AREC -- Agricultural and Resource Economics

AREC 404 Prices of Agricultural Products (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. An introduction to agricultural price behavior. The use of price information in the decision-making process, the relation of supply and demand in determining agricultural prices, and the relation of prices to grade, time, location, and stages of processing in the marketing system. Elementary methods of price analysis, the concept of parity and the role of price support programs in agricultural decisions.

AREC 405 Economics of Agricultural Production (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. The use and application of production economics in agriculture and resource industries through graphical and mathematical approaches. Production functions, cost functions, multiple product and joint production, and production processes through time.

AREC 407 Agricultural Finance (3) Pre- or corequisite: ECON 306. Application of economic principles to develop criteria for a sound farm business, including credit source and use, preparing and filing income tax returns, methods of appraising farm properties, the summary and analysis of farm records, leading to effective control and profitable operation of the farm business.

AREC 414 Agricultural Business Management (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. The different forms of businesses. Management functions, business indicators, measures of performance, and operational analysis. Case studies are used to show applications of management techniques.

AREC 427 Economics of Agricultural Marketing Systems (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. Basic economic theory as applied to the marketing of agricultural products, including price, cost, and financial analysis. Current developments affecting market structure including effects of contractual arrangement, vertical integration, governmental policies and regulation.

AREC 433 Food and Agricultural Policy (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. Economic and political context of governmental involvement in the farm and food sector. Historical programs and current policy issues. Analysis of economic effects of agricultural programs, their benefits and costs, and comparison of policy alternatives. Analyzes the interrelationship among international development, agricultural trade and general economic and domestic agricultural policies.

AREC 445 Agricultural Development, Population Growth and the Environment (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. Development theories, the role of agriculture in economic development, the agricultural policy environment, policies impacting on rural income and equity, environmental impacts of agricultural development.

AREC 453 Natural Resources and Public Policy (3) Prerequisite: ECON 306. Rational use and reuse of natural resources. Theory, methodology, and policies concerned with the allocation of natural resources among alternative uses. Optimum state of conservation, market failure, safe minimum standard, and cost-benefit analysis.

AREC 484 Econometric Applications in Agriculture and Environmental/Natural Resources (3) Prerequisite: ECON 321 or equivalent. Corequisite: ECON 306. Application of econometric techniques to problems in agriculture, environment, and natural resources. Emphasis on the assumptions and computational techniques necessary to structure, estimate, and test economic models in the fields of agricultural, environmental, and resource economics.

AREC 489 Special Topics in Agricultural and Resources Economics (3) Repeatable to 9 credits.

AREC 610 Microeconomic Applications in Agricultural and Resource Markets (3) Three hours of lecture and one and one-half hours of discussion per week. Prerequisite: ECON 603. Applications of graduate level microeconomic analysis to the problems of agricultural and natural resource production and distribution including demand for agricultural output, the nature of agricultural supply decisions, farm labor issues, land rental and acquisition, and exploitation of natural resources.

AREC 620 Optimization in Agricultural and Resource Economics (3) Three hours of lecture and one and one-half hours of discussion per week. Prerequisite: differential calculus and one course in matrix or linear algebra. Mathematical theory of optimization as it is used in agricultural and resource economics. Topics include necessary and sufficient conditions for nonlinear programming and related Kuhn-Tucker and saddle point theory, convexity and concavity, existence and uniqueness, duality and the envelope theorem, the discrete maximum principle, and control theory and dynamic optimization.

AREC 623 Applied Econometrics I (4) Three hours of lecture and one and one-half hours of discussion per week. Theoretical background and statistics for applications in econometrics. Development of the standard linear model and computer applications in applied econometric problems.

AREC 624 Applied Econometrics II (4) Three hours of lecture and one and one-half hours of discussion per week. Variations of the standard linear model and simultaneous equations estimation. Application of econometric tools including nonlinear regression, nonlinear simultaneous equations estimation, qualitative econometric models including logit, probit, and tobit models, varying parameters models, unobserved variables, time series models and model selection procedures.

AREC 625 Economic Welfare Analysis (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 625 or AREC 825. The measurement of economic well-being for producers, consumers, and resource owners. Topics include competitive equilibrium, Pareto optimality, market failure, public goods and nonmarket welfare measurement, multimarket considerations, existing distortions, and second best. Applications in economic welfare analysis of agricultural and resource policies are discussed.

AREC 632 Agricultural Policy Analysis (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 632 or AREC 832. The economics of agricultural policies. Methods for analyzing costs and benifits of price supports, import restraints, and other policies for producers, consumers, and taxpayers. Farm programs of the U.S., other industrial countries and developing countries including interventions in both domestic markets and international are covered along with their consequences for factor owners and related commodity markets. Theories of the farm problem and possible remedies are offered.

AREC 644 International Agricultural and Resource Trade (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 644 or AREC 844. An introduction to trade in agricultural products and natural resources. Partial and general equilibrium models as applied to problems in agricultural and and natural resource trade and in analyzing related trade policies of various countries to understand the impact of macroeconomic policy on international agricultural and resource markets through exchange rates, interest rates and inflation.

AREC 645 International Agricultural and Natural Resource Development (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 645 or AREC 845. Microeconomic foundations of agricultural development, the behavior of the farm household as an economic unit, and the functioning of the agricultural product, input, and labor markets in developing economies. The role of agriculture in economic development is discussed with emphasis on the basic linkages between agriculture and the environment.

AREC 685 Applications of Mathematical Programming in Agriculture Business and Analysis (3) Prerequisite: ECON 403 or permission of department. Application of mathematical programming to problems in agriculture and resource economics. Emphasis on modeling large-scale systems and interpreting results in economic terms.

AREC 689 Special Topics in Agricultural and Resource Economics (3) Subject matter taught will be varied and will depend on the persons available for teaching unique and specialized phases of agricultural and resource economics. The course will be taught by the staff or visiting agricultural and resource economists who may be secured on lectureship or visiting professor basis.

AREC 699 Special Problems in Agricultural and Resource Economics (1-2) Intensive study and analysis of specific problems in the field of agricultural and resource economics, which provide information in depth in areas of special interest to the student.

AREC 753 Economics of Renewable Natural Resources (3) Prerequisite: AREC 610; and AREC 620; or permission of department. Basic models of renewable natural resources. Current research issues concerning natural resources with emphasis on problems in commercial and recreational fisheries, forestry, water, fugitive wildlife, and agriculture. Policies to correct related market failures.

AREC 799 Master's Thesis Research (1-6)

AREC 804 Advanced Agricultural Price and Demand Analysis (3) Prerequisite: ECON 603 and AREC 610. Theories of household behavior and mechanisms of price determination. Static as well as intertemporal optimization problems arising from the simultaneous determination of savings and commodity demand with habit formation. Role of inventories in price formation, factors determining the degree of price flexibility, and price formation in noncompetitive industries.

AREC 806 Advanced Agricultural Production Analysis (3) Prerequisite: ECON 603 and AREC 610. Theory and methods of applied production analysis. Use of dual methods in the analysis of agricultural production problems, cost and profit functions, separability, technical change, aggregation, index numbers, and dynamic decision making.

AREC 825 Advanced Economic Welfare Analysis (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 625 or AREC 825. Theory of economic welfare measurement, problems of path dependence in evaluating multiple price changes, welfare measurement under risk, general equilibrium welfare measurement with multiple distortions, and applications in evaluation of agricultural and resource policies.

AREC 829 Topics in Applied Econometrics (3) Two hours of lecture and two hours of discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisites: AREC 623 and AREC 624 or permission of instructor. Topics in applied econometrics. Topics vary from year to year and may include: estimation of cost, production and derived demand and supply systems using duality; expectations, log structures. ARIMA models, integration and co-integration and other top in time-series analysis; limited dependent and qualitative variables; panel data econometrics; systems of demand equations, simultaneous equations; and survey design and methodology.

AREC 832 Advanced Agricultural Policy Analysis (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 632 or AREC 832. Research problems in agricultural policy that include models and methods for explaining the consequences and causes of intervention in agricultural commodity markets. Quantitative, market level analysis of the implications of uncertainty, strategic behavior in international trade, second-best policies, the general equilibrium analysis of intervention, and the political economy of collective action in farm policy.

AREC 844 Advanced International Agricultural and Resource Trade (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 644 or AREC 844. Issues and problems of current interest in agricultural trade policy and research. Use of dual methods in international trade, the effect of international financial markets on agricultural trade and agriculture in general, the efficient design of agricultural trade policy, trade in resources, and measuring the gains from trade in any economy distorted by sectoral policies.

AREC 845 Advanced International Agricultural and Natural Resource Development (3) Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 645 or AREC 845. Economic inequalities and market forces in economic development along with strategies and policies for sustainable economic development. Export-oriented versus import-substitution strategies, the effect of foreign capital and debt accumulation on natural resources in the agricultural sector. The role of poverty, migration and population growth on natural resources and the interface between agriculture and the environment. Case studies of selected Latin American, Asian and African countries.

AREC 859 Advanced Topics in Natural Resource Economics (1-3) Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Intertemporal considerations in natural resource problems including irreversibility and stochastic control. Nonmarket welfare measurement and nonconsumptive values, option/quasi-option and existence values, applications to extinction and uncertainty, and alternative expectations in common property resource problems.

AREC 869 Advanced Topics in Agricultural Economics (1-3) Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Frontiers of research in agricultural policy, agricultural production, international trade, and agricultural development. Decision making under risk and related market institutions, principal agent analysis, optimal policy design, technology adoption, market structure, land and credit markets, information markets, and income distribution.

AREC 899 Doctoral Dissertation Research (1-8)