U of I News
New website delivers policies that matter

[June 06, 2014]  URBANA - Economists in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois recently developed a website to deliver research-based information on a wide variety of policies that are currently being analyzed and discussed in government and private sectors.

The site can be found at  policymatters.illinois.edu and includes instructions for how to subscribe to receive postings via email or in an RSS feed.

Paul Ellinger, head of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, said that the site is parallel in style and function to his department’s popular farmdocdaily sites. “The College of ACES is well known for its expertise in agricultural economics, but the public may not be as aware of its broad base in other types of policy matters, such as energy and environmental policy, international, food and nutrition policy,” Ellinger said. “This site was created as a new way to deliver discussions and analysis about policies that affect our state, country, and world.”

Ellinger said that visitors who are familiar with farmdocdaily and already subscribe to receive regular posts through that website will recognize the similarities in look, feel, and function to the new Policy Matters website. “The reason behind this is that farmdocdaily and Policy Matters have a similar purpose–the difference is the content,” he said.

Although the site originated in and will be maintained by a team of University of Illinois economists in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, it will seek to include posts from faculty across the university.

[Text received; DEBRA LEVY LARSON, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS]