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Mariah Ehmke

Mariah Ehmke

Introduction

Mariah Ehmke is a research economist in the Diet, Safety, and Health Economics Branch of the Food Economics Division at the Economic Research Service (ERS). Her work focuses on economic analyses related to obesity, especially childhood overweight and obesity.

Background

Mariah’s research includes basic research on household economic behavior and child health outcomes, consumer preferences for health and credence attributes in food, international food fraud, and environmental policy. Her broad research interests include environmental and behavioral determinants of food choice and related health outcomes. She has a rich background in behavioral and consumer economics, as well as choice and econometric modeling. Prior to joining ERS, she was a faculty member at the University of Wyoming and taught courses on consumer economics and behavior, entrepreneurship, international trade, and world food policy. She has also worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Education

Dr. Mariah Ehmke completed her doctorate at Purdue University where she examined the role of economic behavior in consumer preferences for food, health, and the environment across four countries. She also holds a M.S. in agricultural economics from The Ohio State University and B.S. in human ecology from Kansas State University.

Professional Affiliations

American Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
American Economics Association
Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Selected Publications

Kenney, E., Adebiyi, V.O., Seligman, H.K., Ehmke, M.D., Guthrie, J.F., Coleman-Jensen, A., &  Frongillo. E.A. (2024). Assessing and monitoring nutrition security in the United States: A narrative review of current measures and instruments. Current Nutrition Reports 13, 639–667. 

Ehmke, M.D. (2023). Australia’s regional forestry agreements’ moral hazard: An outcome of non-market valuation avoidance, plantation forest incentives, and carbon reduction resistance. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Nordström, J., Shogren, J.F., Thunström, L., Van’t Veld, K., &  Ehmke. M.D. (2020). Strategic ignorance of health risk: It’s causes and policy impact,” Behavioral Public Policy: 1–32.

Ehmke, M.D., Bonanno, A., Boys, K., &   Smith, T. (2019). Food fraud: Economic insights into the dark side of incentives. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 63.

Ehmke, M., Morgan, K.,† Schroeter, C.,† Larson-Meyer, E., † &   Ballenger, N. (2012). Influence de la générosité parentele et contrôle alimentaire sur l’obésité pédiatrique. Revue Francaise d’Economie XXVI (Janvier): 69–94.