Search

Agricultural and Applied Economics departments in the United States have evolved to serve traditional and new stakeholders under the three‐legged land grant mission: extension, research, and teaching. Substantial shifts in the focus of faculty, sometimes matching demand from stakeholders and sometimes not, raise fundamental questions about their strategic direction. We argue agricultural and applied economics has a mission to solve problems, current and future, by working with physical sciences; specifically, the study of economic problems of the food supply chain and bioeconomy. By focusing on this mission, agricultural and applied economics will provide more value‐added to society and may even improve economics while doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges in attracting and securing adequate budgets for departments of agricultural and applied economics, while recognizing that the institutional and political contexts matter. Agricultural and applied economics departments that operate with an entrepreneurial mindset, that maintain and grow their student numbers, and that have a vibrant demand for their extension and research activities will thrive. The good news is we often have considerable control over the factors that contribute to our longer‐term success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural and applied economists make substantial positive contributions to the domestic economy. Defining a measure of the true total value of their contributions is likely impossible, because so much about their efforts is difficult to comprehensively observe and quantitatively document. In this paper, we adopt a conservative approach to generating an estimate of the contributions ag and applied economists make to U.S. economic output and the associated welfare of society through their teaching, research, and outreach efforts. To conduct the analysis, we implemented a nationwide survey of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AAE) departments and developed a framework to calculate the value of their contributions to national income, or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We estimate that AAE departments increase overall U.S. GDP by $2.6 billion, annually. Through its efforts to improve the human capital of its graduates, AAE teaching raises the (expected) national income by $2.2–$2.3 billion, while we value direct research and outreach contributions at $207 million and $146 million, respectively. Because we do not observe the opportunity cost of the resources used to generate those contributions, we do not claim to estimate a true net economic impact but rather attempt to quantify the gross economic contributions of the professional services AAE departments currently offer the economy. The values we provide—especially the research and extension estimates which are exceedingly difficult to measure—likely underestimate the true benefits AAE offers to the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The looming demographic cliff, characterized by a projected decline in college student enrollment, can have important impacts for the agricultural and applied economics profession, academic departments, and universities more broadly across the US. This decline will not only affect the financial stability and sustainability of many agricultural economics departments but also the number of high‐skilled professionals available for the agricultural industry, government bodies, and academia. This article discusses the main factors leading to the demographic cliff, as well as potential strategies for curbing its negative impacts on the profession. In the face of this challenge, it is important to develop a thoughtful, proactive, and strategic approach, and to engage industry, government, and academic partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a repository of historical student responses to an actual course‐assigned essay prompt and a series of artificial intelligence (AI)‐generated responses to the same prompt, we conduct a single‐blind, randomized experiment to evaluate the performance of AI in agricultural and applied economics education. Further, we assess instructors' ability to detect the use of AI. We find that AI‐generated responses to the essay received statistically significantly higher scores than those of the average student. Instructors who had previous exposure to dialog‐based AI were 13 times more likely to accurately detect AI‐generated essays than instructors without previous exposure to the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early days of the COVID‐19 pandemic, we launched the Online Agricultural and Resource Economics Seminar (OARES) in an ostensible effort to maintain a semblance of normalcy in agricultural and applied economics. Our goal with the OARES was to break down the privilege barrier in two ways: by (i) featuring research mainly by junior, female, or minority scholars, and (ii) bringing frontier research to those who may not have had access to a regular seminar series prior to the pandemic. We thus discuss the contribution of the OARES to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in agricultural and applied economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural and applied economists have maintained a public discourse at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) meetings and subsequently published papers discussing the mission of land‐grant institutions and the role of AAEA members in that mission. With a content analysis of 4001 Invited Papers and Presidential Speeches, we find agricultural and applied economists questioned their profession's purpose and role within the land‐grant system. The reflective questions still apply to land‐grant institutions and the agricultural and applied economics profession. We argue that AAEA members are crucial in addressing the food and agricultural challenges connected to society's deepest needs today and into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the reasons why agricultural and applied economics and similar departments are often stand‐alone academic units. The factors that affect and shape the relationship of agricultural and applied economics faculty and departments with those from general economics departments are discussed. We present case studies of three universities having different relationships with general economics faculty at their respective universities: a merged unit, an unmerged unit, and a never‐merged unit. We conclude with rationale for the existence and future trajectory of agricultural economics and related academic units at Land Grant Universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This presidential address calls the membership to explore ways of doing justice work in their research, teaching, extension, and outreach activities. By sharing my story and developing a content analysis of presidential addresses and invited papers published in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association journals, I demonstrate how race has shaped my work and the need for additional work in this area. Through this example, I hope that members of the profession will find new inspiration to do justice work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an introduction to a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics dedicated to the late Dr. James Rude. Dr. Rude was a respected economist who made significant contributions to the field of agricultural economics in Canada. The special issue includes a wide range of articles that reflect the broad reach of Dr. Rude's research and policy work. The articles cover topics such as policy interventions and rent seeking, farm-level production and management decisions, and market power and price transmission in agricultural supply chains. The special issue aims to honor Dr. Rude's contributions and continue his legacy in the field of agricultural economics. [Extracted from the article]

Using rich data on graduate tenure‐track faculty, we explore the gender pay gap in academic departments of economics and agricultural/applied economics and the differences between them. We find that the gender pay gaps in economics and agricultural/applied economics are 8.3% and 4.1%, respectively, controlling for faculty rank, experience, and university affiliation. The gender pay gap increases with rank and varies across institutions. Productivity is an important determinant of wages but it explains little of the gender pay gap. While the lower unexplained gap in agricultural/applied economics is laudable, a greater share of women who are assistant and associate professors is part of the explanation. Given institutional differences, we explore the extent to which institutional factors—differences in the returns to observed characteristics, such as rank; unobserved characteristics; and institutional differences in pay levels—contribute to the gender pay gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article documents the existence of a leaky pipeline based on complete enumeration of faculty in two large public academic networks: state agricultural universities and institutions of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. We then examine if there are gender differences in the quantity and quality of research publications of women relative to men that can explain this. As proxies for quality and visibility, we use several metrics, including the number of citations, h‐index, i10 index, and Scimago rank of the journal in which the research is featured. A novel aspect of the analysis is the comparison of time paths of cumulative publications over career paths of men and women professors. Our analysis of research performance is based on scraping publicly‐available data sources, including faculty and institutional websites, and google scholar pages, and represents one‐third (and likely positively selected) of all faculty in these institutions. Our results suggest that women are disadvantaged in terms of number of publications during early career years, however, the disadvantage is mitigated with seniority and women perform equally well or even surpass men later in their careers. Women are more likely to write single‐authored articles and have fewer collaborators than men, indicating that they do not access collaborative spaces as much, and are less networked than men. In spite of this, there is suggestive evidence that women are more quality conscious than men. This nuanced look at research productivity suggests the source of the leaky pipeline does not arise from differences in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many academic fields in the United States, white male faculty have historically been the norm in the agricultural and applied economics profession, but demographics in the field have started to shift over the past several decades. This paper presents descriptive evidence of the current and historical status of underrepresented and historically underserved groups in our profession, including white women and racial and ethnic minorities of all genders. It also provides a snapshot of perceptions of departmental climate, data on incidents of harassment and discrimination in our profession, motivations for switching academic institutions, and finally, data on strategies for retaining faculty from diverse groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As applied and agricultural economists, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) members work to provide high quality research and data to inform policy decisions. How do we ensure that decision makers see, and use, our research findings or data in the policy formulation process that includes many actors? The paper provides a framework for how information flows during the policy process and a strategy for effective research and data built around five equally important attributes: relevance; quality; trust; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and communication. Examples illustrate how the attributes lead to high impact information and focus on two federal research and statistics agencies, the Economic Research Service and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The paper concludes with strategies and examples of metrics to measure the impact of research and statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural economists have embodied the notions of applied economics for a long time. They have used economic principles to address real-world problems, integrating economics and scientific knowledge. Applied economics tends to be multidisciplinary and develop applied concepts, theories, and tools. Some, like human capital, diffusion of innovation, contingent valuation, and numerous numerical and econometric techniques have spread throughout economics. Agricultural economic research has been data intensive, and improved information technologies strengthen this tendency. Yet data without theory is of limited use and coevolution of theory and data are essential. Empirical analysis should incorporate quantitative information as well as narratives. We are challenged to understand the coevolution of business, supply chains, and technology, and how they are affected by policies and affect markets. Research should integrate agriculture, energy, and the environment and develop tools to analyze and regulate the emerging bio-economy integrating biotech and infotech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review presents machine learning (ML) approaches from an applied economist's perspective. We first introduce the key ML methods drawing connections to econometric practice. We then identify current limitations of the econometric and simulation model toolbox in applied economics and explore potential solutions afforded by ML. We dive into cases such as inflexible functional forms, unstructured data sources and large numbers of explanatory variables in both prediction and causal analysis, and highlight the challenges of complex simulation models. Finally, we argue that economists have a vital role in addressing the shortcomings of ML when used for quantitative economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we celebrate the first 50 years of the European Review of Agricultural Economics. We intend to convey some understanding of how the interests of European Review of Agricultural Economics (ERAE) readers change over time as a reflection of how shifting interests show up in our research. To document how the issues, methods, and content of the ERAE evolve over time, we summarise the content of the top-cited articles by decade. We conclude with a summary, and our thoughts as to where applied economics research in the Review may go over the next 50 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific domain of «agricultural and applied economics» is an open issue. In this paper, we analyse the JEL codes of the articles published in seven major agricultural economics journals in the period 2000-11, in order to define which disciplines and which research areas are the «core business» of today’s agricultural and applied economists. A special attention has been given to the sub-sample of the Italian studies, since a new scientific society in this area (AIEAA) has been recently founded by a group of Italian economists.

The article discusses the debate surrounding the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The economist William Nordhaus, who received the Nobel award for his work on integrating climate into economic theory, estimated that the best benefit-cost ratio was associated with a warming of 2.5 degrees Celsius. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set a target of 1.5 degrees Celsius without providing a justification in terms of costs and benefits. The article argues that the target may not be a sensible choice and suggests that governments should consider implementing a pricing system for carbon dioxide emissions instead. The article also highlights the potential side effects of government regulation on innovation and economic performance. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyzes factors that predict the academic rank of Economics and Agricultural Economics faculty. While female faculties are under‐represented in both types of academic departments, we find that significant factors in predicting the academic rank of female faculty are primarily professional contributions represented by publications and experience. Agricultural Economics departments require more publications than Economics in order to achieve the same positive effect on the latent indicator of higher academic rank. The positive contribution of publications to higher academic rank status is larger for females than for males for both types of economists. The result is suggestive of potential benefits relating to policies that support women in their ability to publish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of rising skepticism about science, this article explores what agricultural and applied economists can do to advance knowledge. If knowledge is what is believed by the preponderance of a community, then the key to advancing knowledge is to build substantive arguments--ones that are persuasive. To evaluate the substantiveness of an argument, this article develops a framework based on validity, topic, and audience. Applying that framework to two highly-cited articles, this article concludes that validity is a necessary condition for a substantive argument, but relevance (of topic to audience) is the sufficient condition. Applied economists are well-positioned to build compelling, objective arguments by fitting appropriate theory and methods to relevant, important topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex societal challenges call for solutions that require innovative thinking and new ways of problem‐solving that creatively combine knowledge from multiple disciplines. It is imperative that applied economists engage in interdisciplinary research and apply systems thinking and analytical approaches to analyzing trade‐offs and behavioral drivers of human choices to design strategies to achieve societal goals. Agricultural and applied economics have a foundation in interdisciplinary research, real‐world problem solving and engagement with stakeholders, but face increasing pressures for specialization. This address discusses strategies for conducting interdisciplinary research that rely on T‐shaped research skills, team science and aggregating expertise from different disciplines to co‐develop solutions to challenging societal problems. It provides some examples of ground‐breaking research that has emerged in applied economics due to the collaborations with and insights provided by scholars from other disciplines. The paper concludes with a discussion of the institutional and discipline‐related challenges to conducting interdisciplinary research and a call to the profession to foster, recognize and value interdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses contributions that women at the intersection of agricultural economics and environmental and resource economics have made over the past several decades to their profession, through both research and leadership. We highlight research contributions in the following areas: land use and conservation, non‐market valuation, environmental policy design, and climate and energy economics. Key examples of leadership within the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists are also discussed. We conclude with some brief personal reflections regarding our experience working at this interface. Related Content: How women in agricultural economics expanded the profession's role in food safety and nutrition Related Content: How women saved agricultural economics Related Content: Women agricultural economists in federal agencies: Making a difference [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One constraint when dealing with food security problems is the absence of measurement tools that allow for mitigation strategies to be targeted on each region individually. The elasticities can be used as a good exploratory instrument of food security. This paper presents a proposal for measuring the food insecurity dimensions of access and stability, integrating the values of the different kinds of elasticities. The methodology was applied to Spain, using data from nine groups of protein-rich foods of animal origin during the 2004-2015 period in 17 regions. The results suggest that, as regards foods rich in animal proteins, Navarra and Galicia are the regions with the highest food insecurity, and pork meat is the most insecure food product. Comparisons can be carried out between and within regions.

The article focuses on relationship between demand for broadband to enable smart agriculture and the availability of broadband for nearby rural communities. It mentions onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the planning committee to rethink the strategy for surfacing and addressing key research and Extension questions. It also mentions visibility of the digital divide during the pandemic drove unprecedented investments in rural broadband.

The article argue that the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. workers to reassess their work status and the nature of their work, especially as regards working in an office or factory versus telecommuting. It mentions shift to home-based work in May 2020 and found that COVID-based telecommuters were likely to be well-educated, white, and higher income. It also mentions COVID's impact on the U.S. labor market and reported less work and less looking for work by women due to in-person schooling.