Mark A. Constas

Biography

Mark Constas is a professor of Applied Economics and Policy in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and International Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He is a fellow of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCi) and a fellow of the Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Through his writing and leadership, Constas has contributed to work that explores how the concept of resilience may be theorized and operationalized for measurement and evaluation in the context of development assistance and humanitarian aid. His most recent work is focused on measurement challenges associated with climate resilience for food security. This emerging part of his program of research involves a collaboration with TCi, and the creation of a multilateral initiative that involves the Green Climate Fund, the International Food Policy Institute, and Oxford University. In addition to his work on climate resilience, Constas has also developed a methodology designed to improve the estimation of trends related to global food crises. This work was carried out in collaboration with the United Food and Agriculture Organization and the Joint Research Centre of the European Union.

Professor Constas regularly participates in expert panels on food security and resilience. He has served as an advisor to several organizations in the United Nations system and served as chair of several initiatives related to resilience. His work has appeared in a selection of highly competitive peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, World Development, Global Food Security, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His work has also been published by United Nations agencies, reaching policy audiences and implementers in developing countries.

Selected Publications

• Blaise, Gloria; Allred, Shorna; Morreale, Stephen; Meredith, Genevieve; Sprenkle-Hyppolite, Starry; et al. "Exploring the Scalability of Community-Based Agroforestry to Achieve Planetary Health Benefits in Haiti’s Lower Artibonite Valley"PLoS Climate. (2024)
• Ampapore, Andrea; Constas, Mark; Fossi, Filippo; Gauny, Josselin; Marsland, Neil; Ulimwengu, John. "The Data in Emergencies (DIEM) Hub for evaluating multiple shock impacts on food security"Nature Food. 4 (2023): 628-629
• Béné, ​Christophe; Frankenberger, Timothy; Nelson, Suzanne; Constas, Mark; Collins, Gregory; et al. "Food system resilience measurement: principles, framework and caveats"Food Security. 15.6 (2023): 1437-1458
• Constas, Mark. "Food security and resilience: The potential for coherence and the reality of fragmented applications in policy and research"Resilience and Food Security - Analysis from a Food System Perspective, Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy Series, Ed. Christophe Béné, Ed. Stephen Devereux. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (2023): 147-184
• Constas, Mark; d'Errico, Marco; Pietrelli, Rebecca. "Toward Core Indicators for Resilience Analysis: A framework to promote harmonized metrics and empirical coherence"Global Food Security. 35 (2022): 100655
• Constas, Mark; Mattioli, Laura; Russo, Luca. "What does resilience imply for development practice? Tools for more coherent programming and evaluation of resilience"Development Policy Review. 39.4 (2021): 588-603
• Constas, Mark; d'Errico, Marco; Hoddinott, John; Pietrelli, Rebecca. "Resilient food systems – A proposed analytical strategy for empirical applications"Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2021. Food and Agriculture Organization. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 21-10 (2021): 46pp
• Jones, Lindsey; Constas, Mark; Mathews, Nathanial; Verkaart, Simone. "Advancing resilience measurement"Nature Sustainability. 4 (2021): 288-289
• Constas, Mark; Wohlgemuth, Max; Ulimwengu, John. "A measurement approach for a health systems-sensitive resilience score: Measuring progress toward the Malabo Declaration goals in the midst of COVID-19"Building resilient African food systems after COVID-19, Ed. John Ulimwengu, Ed. Mark Constas, Ed. Éliane Ubalijoro. AKADEMIYA2063 and International Food Policy Research Institute. (2021): 156-170
• Knippenberg, Erwin; Jensen, Nathaniel; Constas, Mark. "Quantifying household resilience with high frequency data: Temporal dynamics and methodological options"World Development. 121 (2019): 1-15

Recent Courses

• AEM 6991 - MPS Research Seminar I
• AEM 2805 - Strategic Responses to Poverty and Hunger in Developing Countries

Academic Degrees

• PhD Cornell University, 1987
• BS Northeastern University, 1983