Published papers

(Please email me at n.jovanovic@cgiar.org for the full version.)

Ravandi, B., & Jovanovic, N. (2019). Impact of plate size on food waste: Agent-based simulation of food consumption. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 149, 550-565. 

Food waste is a substantial contributor to environmental change and it poses a threat to global sustainability. A significant portion of this waste accounts for plate waste and food surplus from food-service operations such as restaurants, workplace canteens, cafeterias, etc. In this work, we seek to identify potential strategies to optimize food consumption in all-you-can-eat food-service operations, in terms of minimizing food waste while ensuring quality of service (i.e., maintaining low wait-time, unsatisfied-hunger, and walk-out percentages). We treat these facilities as complex systems and propose an agent-based model to capture the dynamics between plate waste, food surplus, and the facility organization setup. Moreover, we measure the impact of plate size on food waste. The simulation results show reducing plate size from large to small decreases plate waste up to 30% while ensuring quality of service. However, total waste as the sum of food surplus and plate waste is lower with large plates. Our results indicate the need for optimizing food preparation along with designing choice environments that encourage guests to avoid taking more food than they need. 

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.05.033 

Katare, B., Wetzstein, M., & Jovanovic, N. (2019). Can economic incentive help in reducing food waste: experimental evidence from a university dining hall. Applied Economics Letters, 26(17), 1448-1451. 

We show that a fixed financial incentive reduces the amount of food waste in an all-you-can-eat university-dining hall. Results indicate that the incentive increased the likelihood of students cleaning their plates, but did not affect the amount of food taken. These results raise important questions about implementing well-studied policies in modifying food consumption. An unintended consequence of the monetary incentive might have led students to consume relatively more food, thus encouraging unwanted eating habits. 

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2019.1578856 

Under review

Jovanovic, N. & Ricker-Gilbert, J. (no date) Estimating the Direct and Indirect Effects of Improved Seed Adoption on Yields: Evidence from DNA-Fingerprinting, Crop Cuts, and Self-Reporting in Ethiopia (Revise & Resubmit requested by JDE)

Farmer adoption of improved crop varieties can potentially increase yields and enhance household welfare in the developing world. However, the presence of measurement errors in household surveys poses a serious challenge to estimating the true returns to adopting improved varieties. This article analyzed the impacts of three sources of measurement error caused by farmers’ misperceptions of the varieties they planted, the area they planted, and the quantities they harvested, on maize yields and input use, using the 2018/19 Ethiopia Socio-economic Survey. These data included DNA-fingerprinting of seed, GPS plot size information, and crop cuts that we compared to farmers’ self-reported estimates of these measures. Doing so allowed us to determine the degree of measurement error in the estimates of improved maize adoption. Results indicated that the measurement error in self-reported adoption of improved maize varieties attenuated their estimated yield gains by 12 percentage points on average. Furthermore, we used the relationship between self-reported and DNA-fingerprinted adoption to disaggregate how much of the yield gains from improved seeds was due to better seed genetics and how much was due to increased effort by the farmers who planted them. We found that improved seed genetics accounted for a 22 percentage point yield increase over traditional seed, and observable effort through increased input use accounted for a 15 percentage point gain for improved varieties on average. Understanding these effects has important implications for justifying the continued funding of development of improved seed varieties and their dissemination to smallholder farmers.