Interests

Consumption & Health Economics  - Consumer Acceptance of Genetically Modified Foods; Health Economics; Food Consumption and Nutrition; Global Food Security; Applied Econometrics & Statistics

Biographical Info

Chern retired from active OSU faculty in winter 2007 and is currently teaching in Taiwan. His primary research work is in consumption behavior and applied econometrics. This includes contingent valuation and experimental auction, estimation of complete demand systems; the dynamics of changing demand structure, nutrition, health and food consumption; the application of demand models for assessing food policy, trade, and welfare impacts; and global food security. Recent research includes analysis of obesity and food intakes, consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods in Norway, Japan, Spain, Taiwan and the U.S., assessment of health risk concerns on food demand; development of consumer information indexes of fats and cholesterol; and food demand in China. Prior to joining the department, Dr. Chern was a professor at the University of Maryland, an economist with the Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge national laboratories and a researcher for the Florida Department of Citrus. He has also been a visiting professor at several Asian universities. Chern previously served on the editorial boards for Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Advancing the Consumer Interest, and was an Associate Editor of Journal of Consumer Affairs.