About Lauren
Hello! I am an applied economist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University. My research examines food retail markets, consumer food decisions, and the role of data infrastructure in supporting evidence-based food policy. I use large-scale retail and household datasets to study how food retail markets and consumer food decisions interact and contribute to economic outcomes across communities. This work is motivated by the need for transparent, accessible evidence to inform food and agricultural policy.
In addition to my faculty appointment, I serve as an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and a board member of the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE). I am also involved in national efforts to improve access to high-quality data for food and agricultural economics research, including through DemocratizingData.ai.
Outside of work, I enjoy baking and spending time with my fiancé and our dog Luca.
See my CV for more details.
Short Bio
Lauren Chenarides is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University and an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Her research focuses on food retail markets, consumer food decisions, and data infrastructure for evidence-based food policy. She studies how market structure, firm behavior, public policy, and information systems relate to economic outcomes across communities.
Lauren has expertise in applied microeconomics, empirical industrial organization, spatial analysis, scanner data, and food systems research. She regularly works with large-scale retail and household datasets and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on policy-relevant research. Through initiatives such as DemocratizingData.ai, she works to improve transparency, discoverability, and public access to high-quality datasets for food and agricultural economics research. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Penn State and a B.A. in Mathematics from the College of the Holy Cross.