About

Douglas Miller is a professor in the Department of Economics at Cornell University, located in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, earned in 2000. His academic interests include econometrics, health economics, labor economics, and public economics. Miller is a micro-economist with a focus on social policy, particularly policies that impact demographically and economically vulnerable populations. He is also interested in the relationship between the economic environment and health outcomes, and he works to build and expand the econometric toolkit used to answer social science and public policy questions. Prior to joining Cornell, he was a member of the Economics Department at UC Davis from 2002 to 2016.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Sociology
• Biology
• Political Science
• Biochemistry
• Food science
• Finance
• Animal science
• Law
• Economics
• Internal medicine
• Chromatography
• Public relations
• Business
• Medicine
• Pharmacology

Selected publications

• Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

  Food science text series · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Iron from Co-Encapsulation of Defatted Nannochloropsis Oceanica with Inulin Is Highly Bioavailable and Does Not Impact Wheat Flour Shelf Life or Sensorial Attributes

  Foods · 2023 · 4 citations

  • Food science
  • Chemistry
  • Biology

  oxidation and color change amongst treatments, when stored for 30 days. There were no differences in the overall liking and product acceptance of rotis amongst treatments at both day 0 and day 21 samples. Our results suggest that EC50 can be effectively used as an iron fortificant in WF to deliver highly bioavailable iron without experiencing any stability or sensory defects, at least until 30 days of storage.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Oil MENA's Challenges and the Policy Response: Addressing the Institutional and Trust Deficits

  Deleted Journal · 2023 · 1 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  Oil MENA's Challenges and the Policy Response:Addressing the Institutional and Trust Deficits Mohammed Akacem (bio), John L. Faulkner (bio), and Dennis D. Miller (bio) Introduction This article examines the key policy issues as well as the future challenges encountering oil MENA.1 It presents policy recommendations to prepare the region for the time when the oil runs out.2 The task is difficult and requires bold policy changes that the region's governments may not be ready or willing to implement. Given the multitudes of issues that the region faces, from high population growth, oil dependence, and institutional and trust deficit to climate change and its possible impact on oil exports, the region has a narrow path to extract itself from the worst-case scenario. [End Page 1] We submit that our key citizen empowerment proposal will meet resistance. The proposal is but one change of many that need to be seriously considered and implemented. But it could be the beginning of further reforms to come. We believe that the status is unsustainable. As a result, we think that an approach that inverts the power relationship between the state and the citizen is but a start. We are proposing a way out of oil MENA's oil dependence by defusing power to where the citizens become active stakeholders and, in the process, stimulate and encourage institutional change. In essence, the main recommended policy change is to redirect the flow of oil revenues directly to the citizens. Given that the ultimate owners of the oil wealth are the citizens, the proposed change would provide an incentive to the governments to be more responsive. Such a policy change is a drastic shift from the status quo. But doing nothing is not an option. Other authors3 have explored similar ideas. This article will present the key challenges as well as our approach to empower the citizens of oil MENA as a path to institutional change. The state of Alaska has a model that somewhat approaches ours but is also very different (Alaska 2021). The early attempt to flesh out the oil privatization ideas, but not the oil revenue distribution model, took place in 1995 (Akacem, Cochran and Vorhies 1995). This article consists of four parts. In Part I, we discuss the challenges facing oil MENA. In Part II, we examine the future and uncertainty of oil demand due to electric transportation, renewable energy, and efforts to mitigate climate change. In Part III, we present our policy change and the incentives needed to achieve it. In Part IV, we conclude by summarizing the cumulative effect of the many factors that could motivate autocrats to give up some power, reform their institutions, and consider the proposed citizen empowerment plan. I. MENA's Challenges A. Population The high rate of population growth in MENA presents a major challenge to the future economic development prospects of the region. Economic policies have failed to provide enough jobs for both men and women to participate in the workforce. Since women who are engaged in their careers have fewer children, one way to combat overpopulation is to promote [End Page 2] policies that facilitate the entry of women into the workforce. "Women in the labor force, and particularly those who are highly educated, tend to have a stronger career orientation [and therefore] have fewer children." (Blau and Ferber 1986, 120-121) A comparison (Table 1) of MENA's annual population growth rate generally reveals an abysmal record when compared to that of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Click for larger view View full resolution Table 1. Comparative Statistics Between MENA and the OECD At a population growth rate of 1.7 percent per year, MENA's population of 465 million is burdened with almost 8 million more mouths to feed each year, which is more than the total population of the state of Washington of 7.6 million in 2019 (US Census Bureau 2020, 612) and almost twice China's annual gain in population (World Bank n.b.a). The following MENA countries with the highest rates of population growth are shown in Table 2. Egypt, due to its size of over 100...

  PublisherDOI

• Supplemental Microalgal Iron Helps Replete Blood Hemoglobin in Moderately Anemic Mice Fed a Rice-Based Diet

  Nutrients · 2020 · 12 citations

  • Chemistry
  • Animal science
  • Food science

  < 0.05) mRNA levels of hepcidin, divalent metal transporter 1, transferrin and transferrin receptor 1. Iron extracted from defatted microalgae seemed to be effective in alleviating moderate anemia, and INU-PHY enhanced utilization of intrinsic iron present in the rice diet. Our findings may lead to a novel formulation of these ingredients to develop safer and bioavailable iron supplements for iron-deficient populations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

  Food science text series · 2017-01-01 · 36 citations

  book-chapterOpen access

  The major challenge in mineral analysis is to accurately measure these elements in a food matrix that contains much higher concentrations of other components (i.e., carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) as well as other mineral elements that may interfere. In comparison with traditional wet chemistry methods for mineral analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), atomic emission spectroscopy (AES), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) methods are capable of measuring trace concentrations of elements in complex matrices rapidly and with excellent precision. While AAS quantifies the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by well-separated neutral atoms, AES measures emission of radiation from atoms in excited states. Developed more recently, ICP has been mated with MS to form ICP-MS instruments that are capable of measuring mineral elements with extremely low detection limits. This chapter covers the preparation of samples for analysis by these methods; the difference in the principles and instrumentation between AAS, AES, and ICP-MS; and the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the methods.

  PublisherDOI

• Agriculture and Micronutrient Availability

  2016-03-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Oil as the path to institutional change in the oil-exporting Middle East and North Africa

  2015-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Egypt's Economic Development and Challenges post Arab Spring: Can New Technology Quench Egypt's Thirst for Water and Enhance Good Institutions?

  Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern studies · 2015-01-01

  articleSenior author

  53 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXIX, No.1, Fall 2015 Egypt’s Economic Development and Challenges post Arab Spring: Can New Technology Quench Egypt’s Thirst for Water and Enhance Good Institutions? Mohammed Akacem* Dennis D. Miller* I. Introduction Without a doubt the future of the Middle East hinges upon the success of the Egyptian economy. But Egypt confronts an obstacle course full of enormous hurdles that it must leap, especially its growing population, diminishing arable land, scarcity of water and its need to avoid a repeat of the conditions that led up to the Arab spring of 2011. Basic to effectively dealing with these hurdles is for Egypt to find creative ways to quickly develop its economy. This will lessen the population growth rate and lessen This paper is a revised and updated (July 10, 2015) version of the paper presented at the ACSIS 32nd Annual Conference in Philadelphia. *Mohammed Akacem is currently a professor of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to joining MSU, he worked at the International Center for Energy and Economic Development in Boulder, Colorado. He was an economist at The Saudi Fund for Development in Saudi Arabia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. *Dennis D. Miller is the Buckhorn Endowed Chair at Baldwin Wallace University. Miller worked at the Center for Energy and Economic Development and the Institute of Behavioral Science at CU Boulder. He also taught at the American University in Cairo and was an analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder. 54 1 It is generally now accepted in development economics that as a country develops population growth rates tend to diminish, thus diffusing the population bomb. One developmental economist, William Easterly, put it this way, “Development itself is a far more powerful contraceptive than cash for condoms.” See his book The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001), p. 96. 2 Population figure for Egypt was for 2014 from the following on-line source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL Accessed August, 18, 2015. 3 Ibid. the severity of the other problems.1 Recent discoveries and technological developments concerning farming and water point to ways to do this. Before that, we review the obstacles that Egypt faces in order to put its economy on the path to a sustainable economic growth and development that answers the needs of the whole population. Later, the paper will present some of these promising developments that by themselves are not a solution but they are possible steps to push back the water and food constraints on economic development so that Egypt may move more quickly towards a prosperous and stable future. II. Egypt’s Importance and Its Major challenges: Why institutions matter: Egypt’s influence on history and now the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is unparalleled. Few nations can boast five thousand years of civilization. Today it still occupies an important place in world affairs. Geographically Egypt controls the Suez Canal, the critical artery for the transportation of goods and materials from Asia to the countries on the Mediterranean and beyond. Archeologically, Egypt holds many of the world’s most treasured artifacts. It’s remnants of ancient history, such as the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx have attracted tourists from all countries of the world. Religiously, Egypt is the home of Al-Azhar University, one of the largest and most revered Islamic universities in the world. And it has been for nearly two millennia, the home of the Coptic Christians, one of Christianity’s oldest branches. Culturally, Egypt influences a large part of MENA through its entertainment industry, including movies, music and literature. Egypt’s wellbeing is thus of major importance to the entire world. Even so, Egypt’s population growth threatens to overwhelm Egypt’s resources to sustain it. In 2013, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimated that Egypt’s population was at 83.3 million and was growing at a rate of 1.84% per year.2 This meant that Egypt’s population grows...

  PublisherDOI

• Is Indian tea (chai) detrimental to dietary iron absorption

  International Food Research Journal · 2015-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Antioxidants and Phytochemicals

  Elsevier eBooks · 2014-01-01 · 15 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Raymond P. Glahn

  Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health

  97 shared

• Darrell Van Campen

  Cornell University

  35 shared

• Chi Kong Yeung

  California Polytechnic State University

  34 shared

• Elad Tako

  Cornell University

  32 shared

• Xin Gen Lei

  New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

  31 shared

• José Moisés Laparra

  IMDEA Food

  30 shared

• Ross M. Welch

  29 shared

• B R Schricker

  28 shared

Labs

• Cornell Human EcologyPI