First Year Courses
AREC 620 Optimization in Agricultural and Resource Economics (3 credits)
Two and one-half hours of lecture and one and one-half hours of discussion per week. Mathematical theory of static and dynamic optimization as applied to the economics of agriculture, natural resources and the environment. Topics include necessary and sufficient conditions for constrained optimization, convexity and concavity, duality and the envelope theorem, comparative statics, fixed point theorems, optimal control theory and dynamic programming.
Prerequisites: must have completed multivariate calculus and matrix or linear algebra
AREC 610 Microeconomic Applications in Agricultural and Resource Markets (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and two hours of discussion per week. 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, decision making under uncertainty, valuation of natural resources, and exploitation of natural resources.
Prerequisites: AREC 620 and ECON603 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 623 Applied Econometrics I (4 credits)
Two lectures of two and a half hours and one two-hour discussion per week. A modern introduction to empirical strategies in applied micro research in fields like public policy, development economics, education, marketing and corporate finance. Lectures focus on concepts and applications with the view that empirical work must address economically meaningful causal questions. Some theoretical and mathematical aspects of probability and statistics will be developed to assess the significance of the relationship among economic variables.
Prerequisites: must have completed introductory statistics or econometrics, matrix or linear algebra, and calculus
AREC 624 Applied Econometrics II (4 credits)
Two lectures of two and a half hours and one two-hour discussion per week. Variations of the standard linear model, simultaneous equations estimation, nonlinear regression, nonlinear simultaneous equations estimation, static and dynamic panel data models, errors in variables, Hausman tests, discrete choice models such as conditional multinomial and mixed logit models, latent class models, semi-parametric estimation, varying parameter models, unobserved variables, time series models, and model selection procedures.
Prerequisites: AREC 623 (or permission of the instructor)
ECON 603 Microeconomic Analysis I (3 Credits)
A detailed treatment of the theory of the consumer and of the firm, particularly emphasizing the duality approach. Topics include the household production model, imperfect competition, monopolistic and oligopolistic markets.
Prerequisite: permission of BSOS-Economics department
ECON 604 Microeconomic Analysis II (3 Credits)
Analysis of markets and market equilibria; the Arrow-Debreu model of general equilibrium, the two-sector model, welfare theorems, externalities, public goods, markets with incomplete and asymmetric information.
Prerequisite: ECON603 and permission of BSOS-Economics department
Second and Third Year Courses
AREC 783 Environmental Taxation and Regulation
Two and one-half hours of lecture per week. Credit will be given for only one of the following courses: AREC 783, AREC 869W. This course examines the economics of policies to address environmental externalities. Specific topics include the theory of public goods and externalities, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis of environmental regulations, regulatory instrument choice under uncertainty, environmental policy in an economy with pre-existing tax distortions, monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations, distributional effects of environmental policy, and regulation of intertemporal externalities.
Prerequisites: ECON 604 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC784 Energy Economics, Empirical Industrial Organization, and Public Policy (3 Credits)
Energy markets and public policy, evaluating techniques for estimating market demand and supply and for evaluating policy intervention. Comparison of reduced-form and structural approaches. Applications may include but are not limited to electricity, oil and other liquid fuels, and household travel, with examples from the United States and other countries.
Prerequisites: ECON603 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 785 Advanced Economics of Natural Resources (3 credits)
Two and one-half hours of lecture per week. Also offered as ECON 785. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 785 or ECON 785. The use of exhaustible and renewable natural resources from normative and positive points of view. Analysis of dynamic resource problems emphasizing energy, mineral, groundwater, forestry, and fishery resources; optimal, equilibrium, and intergenerational models of resource allocation.
Prerequisites: AREC 620 and AREC 623 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 815 Experimental and Behavioral Economics (3 credits)
Three hours of lecture/laboratory per week. The course provides an overview of the design, implementation, and analysis of lab experiments motivated by behavioral economics, with a particular focus on lab experiments in field settings. Topics covered include social preferences, risk aversion, prospect theory, present bias, overconfidence, and limited attention.
Prerequisites: ECON 604 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 829 Policy Design and Causal Inference for Social Science (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and two hours of discussion per week. Covers a number of empirical strategies in applied micro research to estimate the effects of a policy (or program) on the outcome of interest. The topics covered represent the toolbox of modern causal inference in academic fields like public policy, development economics, labor economics, education, marketing and corporate finance as well as in the industry and international organizations. Emphasis is given to the thought experiment, the hypothetical experiment that should be used to answer the causal question of interest.
Prerequisites: AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 832 Advanced Agricultural Policy Analysis (3 credits)
Three hours of lecture per week. Also offered as AREC 632. 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.
Prerequisites: AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 844 Firm Growth in Developing Countries (3 credits)
A study of the growth of firms face in developing countries and interventions/policies that can be used to remove barriers to growth, including issues related to management, credit constraints, political connections, misallocation and trade.
Prerequisites: ECON 604 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 845 Environment and Development Economics (3 credits)
Two and one-half hours of lecture per week. Also offered as AREC 645. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: AREC 645 or AREC 845. Considers neoclassical and endogenous growth models; international trade theory; the role of property right institutions and factor markets; the environmental impact of trade liberalization in developing countries and the environmental effects of increasing international capital mobility; empirical studies relating the environment to growth and globalization; and policy analyses.
Prerequisites: ECON 604 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 847 Networks, Social Learning and Technology Adoption (3 credits)
This class will focus on networks, learning from others, and peer effects and the role of each in human capital accumulation, technology adoption and behavior. The material is focused on applications of education, health agriculture and entrepreneurship in developing countries, but will draw heavily from literatures on these effects in developed countries as well. The class will cover the theory of networks and learning but its primary focus will be on the empirical difficulty of identifying these effects and establishing causality.
Prerequisites: ECON 604 and AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
AREC 869B Applied Economic Decision-Making Under Uncertainty (3 credits)
In this course, students will develop and study decision-making models in different uncertain decision environments. Problem areas considered will include: producer decisions under uncertainty in the face of active financial markets; climate change; food scares; and incomplete preference structures.
Prerequisites: AREC 610, AREC 620 and AREC 624
AREC 869D Advanced Topics in Agricultural and Resource Economics: Political Economy of Development (3 credits)
This course introduces key topics in political economy from the lens of empirical development economics. We will survey a broad cross-section of papers looking at how political economy of development has evolved over the past three decades. Students will be exposed to recent advances in empirical methods, including practical applications of field experiments and natural experiments.
Prerequisites: AREC 624 (or permission of the instructor)
Other Courses
AREC 699 Special Problems in Agricultural and Resource Economics (1-2 credits)
Intensive study and analysis of specific problems in the field of agricultural and resource economics, providing in-depth information in areas of special interest to the student.
AREC 799 Master's Thesis Research (1-6 credits)
AREC 891 Introduction to Prospectus Development (1-credit)
One and a half hours of discussion or seminars per week. Prerequisite: Completion of the first year of graduate study in AREC. Credit will be given for only one of the following courses: AREC 869K or AREC 891. Critical evaluation of research, and prospectus topic exploration including literature review, data identification, model development, and related presentations. Required of all second-year Ph.D. students.
AREC 892 Dissertation Prospectus Development (3-credits)
Two hours of discussion and presentations per week. Credit will be given for only one of the following courses: AREC 869P or AREC 892. Presentations of proposed dissertation research including literature review, model development, data identification, and written prospectus
development. Required of all third-year Ph.D. students.
Prerequisite: Completion of two years of the AREC Ph.D. program.
AREC 898 Pre-Candidacy Research (1-8 credits)
AREC 899 Doctoral Dissertation Research (1-8 credits)
