About

Dr. Nicole Olynk Widmar is the Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, where she also serves as Associate Department Head and Professor. Her role involves leadership within the department, and she is actively engaged in the graduate program as Chair. Her research focuses on various aspects of agricultural economics, including community-level dynamics related to renewable energy, wind energy development, and farmland preservation. She has contributed to understanding the community impacts of wind energy in Indiana and has been involved in examining the societal and economic implications of energy policies on rural communities. Dr. Widmar's work also encompasses broader issues in agricultural economics, such as farm policy, land use, and rural resilience, and she has participated in numerous farm policy study group meetings and presentations at Purdue University.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Business
• Economics
• Political Science
• Marketing
• Medicine
• World Wide Web
• Economic growth
• Family medicine
• Public relations
• Environmental economics
• Veterinary medicine
• Demography
• Advertising
• Microeconomics
• Agricultural science
• Geography
• Forestry
• Agricultural economics
• Psychology
• Biology
• Internet privacy

Selected publications

• Documenting Public Perceptions of ESG in the US and the UK

  The Journal of Impact and ESG Investing · 2026-04-17

  articleSenior author

  ESG has been embraced by institutions in the global business community as a framework of metrics to gauge a company’s performance, pushing beyond economic returns to consider environmental, social, and governance factors. Despite widespread adoption by businesses and investors, little is known about societal perceptions of ESG in different countries. We use online media platforms to study public perceptions about ESG in both the United States (US) and in the United Kingdom (UK) from September 1, 2020, to September 1, 2024. We analyzed 8.4 million news and social media mentions related to ESG in the US (7.2 million) and in the UK (1.2 million) and broke them down by social media versus news posts. Our results indicate that public perceptions are evolving differently in the US versus the UK over time. Generally, US media discusses ESG more negatively than in the UK. In both countries, news-generated media results maintained a positive net sentiment in the period studied. In the US, net sentiment started positive and became negative, whereas in the UK, net sentiment remained positive through the period of observation. Our results suggest that discussions of ESG in the news are generally more favorable than discussions of ESG on social media in both the US and the UK.

  PublisherDOI

• Social media analysis reflects the negative sentiments experienced at both time changes with somewhat more depressive impact in early fall

  PLoS ONE · 2026-03-04

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We quantify the effect of biannual time changes on sentiment using US online and social media posts from periods around changes to Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the spring and Standard Time (ST) in the fall over the period 2019-2023. We compare sentiment-a measure of individuals overall mood or emotions towards an event-in cities on either side of US time zones the day before and after the societal time change. We find negative shocks to sentiment following both time changes. This effect seems stronger in the fall. Given the amount of daylight relative to a fixed work schedule should be the same in each group of cities on these days, these differences suggest strong negative ceteris paribus reactions to societal time changes, which may indicate preference to abolish these adjustments, although we do not measure preference for DST versus ST. We also use regression analysis to estimate how sentiment changes over time. We find persistent negative impacts from the change to Standard Time in the fall. In contrast, individuals experience a noisy shock to sentiment that attenuates over time. These findings provide evidence that individuals have a more negative reaction to the societal time change to Standard Time in the fall than they do to DST in the Spring. This work highlights the potential that the reaction to societal time changes varies depending on whether moving to or away from DST or Standard Time.

  PublisherDOI

• Unconventional lessons from consumer (that includes you!) behavior

  AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• SELF-REPORTED 2021 INTENTIONS TO TAKE THE SHOT (OR NOT) BY DEMOGRAPHICS

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-12-13

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• THE COVID-19 VACCINE EDITION OF PURDUE PETE VERSUS PISTOL PETE

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-12-13

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• COVID-INDUCED LIFESTYLE ADAPTATIONS WE’RE KEEPING

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-12-13

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Markets We Thought We Knew

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-11-22

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Decisions That Shape Supply Chains

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-11-04

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• SOCIETAL VALUES AND PERSONAL RISKY BEHAVIORS REMAIN FOR SIX MONTHS IN A PANDEMIC ERA—EXCEPT WE’RE DRINKING MORE ALCOHOL

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-12-13

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Markets We Thought We Knew

  Purdue University Press eBooks · 2025-01-01

  bookOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Courtney Bir

  52 shared

• Christopher A. Wolf

  Cornell University

  36 shared

• David L. Ortega

  Michigan State University

  28 shared

• Candace Croney

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  22 shared

• H. Holly Wang

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  18 shared

• Elizabeth Byrd

  17 shared

• John Lai

  15 shared

• S.R. Dominick

  14 shared

Awards & honors

• James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture