Miguel Gómez

Associate Professor of Applied Economics and Management

Miguel Gómez, professor of applied economics and management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, says that changes in the availability, variety and composition of foods in developing countries is a key driver of global malnutrition.   Gómez’s paper “Innovations in Food Distribution: Food Value Chain Transformations in Developing Countries and their Implications for Nutrition” is part of the Global Innovation Index 2017 release at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, today.

Gómez says:

“Given that micronutrient deficiencies affect more people today, interventions to boost the efficiency of traditional food distribution systems can be effective in improving access to micronutrients, particularly among urban and rural poor people.

“Modern food distribution systems may simultaneously promote over-nutrition and reduce micronutrient deficiencies among urban emerging middle- and high- income individuals, which contributes to obesity. Conversely, such effects may be nonexistent for the urban poor and rural residents, who are more likely to suffer from undernourishment, because these markets are often missed by the modern supermarket.”