Dr. Ricky Volpe, Ph.D.
Ricky Volpe received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2010. He then spent four years working as an economist at the USDA Economic Research Service in Washington DC. There he researched a variety of topics, including food price formation, competitiveness in the food industry, and the healthiness of grocery purchases in the U.S. Ricky was also responsible for forecasting retail food price inflation at the national level.
Now at Cal Poly, Ricky teaches courses on food retail and supply chain management, transportation and logistics, and data analysis. He also maintains an active research agenda using a variety of large data sets to study issues related to market structure, firm performance, food prices, consumers’ food choices, and health outcomes. He also works closely with industry leaders in food retailing, wholesaling, and distribution to facilitate collaboration on public-private partnerships, student internships, and scholarships.
Education
- Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis
- M.S. Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- B.S. Mathematics and Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Areas of Specialization
- Economics of food retailing
- Industrial organization
- Applied econometrics
