Kathryn Bender

Assistant Professor of Economics University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Research focuses on the economic pedagogy as well as the economics of food waste, experimental economics and consumer behavior.

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Taylor Swift workshop helps fill a blank space for economics students

The University of Delaware's Kathyrn Bender developed a concept that professors could only conjure in their wildest dreams: A Taylor Swift-themed workshop that helps college students better understand data analytics through the music of the world's biggest pop star. Bender, assistant professor of economics in UD's Lerner College of Business and Economics, came up with the idea while teaching her Introduction to Microeconomics class in early October when the discussion turned to MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets. “I noticed in that class there was a lot of excitement, and I had just about everybody’s attention in there, whether they were interested because of football or because of the Taylor Swift aspect. So I thought that was really cool,” Bender said. Using grant money, Bender quickly jumped on the idea and developed a Swift-themed data visualization workshop series entitled “Data Enchanted: Transforming Numbers into Knowledge.” She held three 90-minute workshops during the fall semester, which ran from late October through early December: “Ready for It,” an introduction to Stata; “You Belong with Me,” building and structuring data for analysis; and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” transforming and cleaning data for analysis. The workshops helped UD students learn to utilize Stata, a statistical software package used for data manipulation, visualization and automated reporting. They were an immediate success, as Bender received over 60 applicants, although she was limited to accepting just 32 due to space limitations. Though students don’t earn credit for completing the workshops, just a certificate, Bender said they help fill some gaps that aren’t covered in classes. “I think they’re kind of expected to learn about it, piecing it together from different classes,” Bender said. “This [workshop series] is a way for students to get introduced to thinking about data, how it’s set up, how you can create good visualizations with it … those basics before you get into the analysis.” Making the workshops Swift-themed helped students pick up concepts more easily in a fun environment. Before jumping into data sets, the students make friendship bracelets to the soundtrack of Swift's music. In one session, they pulled Spotify data and statistics to analyze the popularity of Swift’s songs. “We’ve stuck with Taylor Swift songs and albums so far,“ Bender said. “So all the data sets have been very easy for the students to understand as opposed to something that’s not as familiar for them to think about. They know what a song is, they know what the duration of a song is, those things are all very easy to understand. They’re able to practice these new data skills without having to worry about the content as much.” Due to the workshop’s immediate success, Bender is planning on expanding the program during the spring semester. She aims to hold eight workshops, the initial three and then five more, and hopes to make them available for all UD students (they were available only as an undergraduate program in the fall). Reporters who would like to write about the workshop and interview Bender can contact her directly by simply the contact button on her profile. Or, send an email to UD's media relations team.

Kathryn Bender

Media

Social

Biography

Kathryn Bender received her B.S. in Economics from Centre College and her Ph.D. and M.S. in Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics from The Ohio State University. After two years at a liberal arts college, she arrived at the University of Delaware, where she is an assistant professor of economics in the Lerner College of Business and Economics. Her area of research focuses on the economics of food waste, and she has become a go-to expert on the topic for media outlets nationwide. Bender also recently launched an economics workshop focused on Taylor Swift called Data Enchanted, with a goal of fostering interest in economics among the current generation of students.

Industry Expertise

Consumer Goods
Education/Learning
Environmental Services

Areas of Expertise

Food Marketing and Policy
Economic Pedagogy
Taylor Swift
Data Visualization
Data Analysis
Economics
Food Waste

Media Appearances

Yes, you can study Swiftonomics thanks to a new University of Delaware workshop

Philadelphia Inquirer  online

2024-01-02

Taught by longtime Swiftie and assistant economics professor Kathryn Bender, the not-for-credit workshop uses Swift’s Spotify streaming data and a sizable number of Easter eggs to teach the basics of data visualization. Those who complete the workshop will receive a data analytics certificate, said Bender.Taught by longtime Swiftie and assistant economics professor Kathryn Bender, the not-for-credit workshop uses Swift’s Spotify streaming data and a sizable number of Easter eggs to teach the basics of data visualization. Those who complete the workshop will receive a data analytics certificate, said Bender.

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Swiftonomics: University of Delaware brings Taylor Swift economics course to campus

Delaware Online  online

2023-12-15

Delaware's largest university hopes to spur "the future generation's interest in economics" with a voluntary course centering on the singer's economic impact. Her father is a Blue Hen, after all. Kathryn Bender, an assistant professor of economics, is leading the Swift-themed data visualization workshop series for undergraduate students called "Data Enchanted: Transforming Numbers Into Knowledge."

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Tackling climate change and alleviating hunger: States recycle and donate food headed to landfills

AP News  online

2023-11-26

Kathryn Bender, a University of Delaware assistant professor of economics, said donation programs are helpful, but she worries they might shift the burden from businesses to nonprofits, which could struggle to distribute all the food.

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Articles

Household food waste trending upwards in the United States: Insights from a National Tracking Survey

Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

2023

Three successive administrations have supported the United States' 2015 goal to reduce food waste. Households waste more food than other supply chain segments, however, few data sources are available to track US households' progress toward this goal. We provide insights from the first four waves of a novel national survey designed to track such waste. We find a 280% year‐over‐year increase in self‐reported waste between early 2021 and early 2022, which militates against national goal achievement. We find households wasted more food during weeks they dined out and that sample households dined out significantly more in 2022 than in 2021.

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Consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of food purchasing and management behaviors in US households through the lens of food system resilience

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences

2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated considerable interest in the resilience of the U.S. food system. Less attention has been paid to the resiliency characteristics of the final link in the food system – individual households. We use national survey data from July 2020 to understand the food acquisition, preparation, and management strategies that households implemented in response to the pandemic. We find a substantial increase in the amount of food prepared and consumed at home which scales with respondents’ time availability, perceived risks of dining out, and pandemic-induced income disruption.

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Adapting, refining and expanding a validated questionnaire to measure food waste in US households

MethodsX

2021

The Household Food Waste Questionnaire (van Herpen et al. 2019a) was developed and validated as an effective instrument to identify statistically significant differences between households and to distinguish trends in household food waste over time. The original instrument was validated using consumers sampled from several European countries. We conduct a pilot study with U.S. consumers using the revised questionnaire. We find that a sample of 150 online panelists provided sufficient statistical power to replicate standard findings from the literature that smaller households and older respondents generate less food waste, but not enough statistical power to identify a statistically significant week-to-week reduction in reported food waste among households who received a food waste message rather than a control message.

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Education

The Ohio State University

PhD

Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

2019

The Ohio State University

MS

Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

2016

Centre College

BS

Economics

2011