Courses - Spring 2025
AREC210
The Food Chain: What Happens As Your Food Goes From Farm to Table
How can we feed a growing global population, reduce farming's environmental damage, and provide a healthier diet, all in the face of climate change? The course explores these global food system challenges in the context of the food supply chains that link farms, input providers, traders, food processors, retailers, consumers, and governments. We assess how supply chains are organized; how they use technologies; and how they can create organizations, develop new technologies, and adapt food production practices to meet these four major challenges facing the global food system.
AREC240
Introduction to Economics and the Environment
Credit only granted for: AREC240 or AREC250 .
Costs and social impacts of pollution and human crowding in the modern environment. The economic, legal and institutional causes of these problems. Public policy approaches to solutions and the costs and benefits of alternative solutions.
AREC254
Charting a Sustainable Future: Integrating Economics and Policy for Climate Action
Explores climate change through an economic perspective, focusing on how economic principles can inform effective climate policies. Students will learn about the causes and impacts of a changing climate, evaluate various policy approaches, and develop critical thinking skills. By the end of the semester, they will understand economic tools for addressing climate change and the associated political, socioeconomic, and ethical complexities.
AREC326
Intermediate Applied Microeconomics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: ECON200, AREC250, or AREC240; and ECON201. And MATH120, MATH130, MATH136, or MATH140; or must have completed MATH220.
Credit only granted for: ECON306, ECON326, AREC489M, or AREC326.
Formerly: AREC489M.
Deepens and broadens your ability to apply rigorous economic analysis skills to a broad range of problems.
AREC345
This interdisciplinary course explores social and economic development around the world. Topics include geography, democratization, political instability and conflict, health and education, agricultural development, micro-entrepreneurship, and an introduction to impact evaluation methods used to evaluate the efficacy of public policy aimed at alleviating poverty.
AREC365
World Hunger, Population, and Food Supplies
An introduction to the problem of world hunger and possible solutions to it. World demand, supply, and distribution of food. Alternatives for leveling off world food demand, increasing the supply of food, and improving its distribution. Environmental limitations to increasing world food production.
AREC370
From Poverty to Progress in The World's Largest Democracy: India's Political Economy in Transition
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: ECON200, AREC250 or AREC240; and one of the following: STAT100, MATH107, BMGT230, ECON230 or STAT400.
India, the largest country in the world, is home to nearly 18% of the global population. As such, India's growth and progress have profound implications for humanity's trajectory in the 21st century. This course explores India's past, present, and future through the lens of political economy. We will explore the incentives of politicians and bureaucrats as well as issues related to local governance and social movements.
AREC386
Experiential Learning
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: Permission of AGNR-Agricultural & Resource Economics department.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
AREC388
Honors Thesis Research
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg
AREC399
Special Problems
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
AREC405
Economics of Production
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: ECON326 or AREC326; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
The use and application of production economics in analysis of firm and policy decisions. Production functions, cost functions, multiple product and joint production, and production processes through time.
AREC422
Econometric Analysis in Agricultural and Environmental Economics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: 1 course from (AREC326 or ECON326); and 1 course from (ECON230, ECON321, or BMGT230).
Credit only granted for: ECON422, ECON424, or AREC422.
This course offers a hands-on introduction to econometrics. Students will explore the linear regression model from the ground up by analyzing real-world datasets and learning how to distinguish causation from correlation. They will gain practical experience using econometrics to address important questions in agricultural economics and environmental economics.
AREC433
Food and Agricultural Policy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: ECON326 or AREC326; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
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.
AREC435
Commodity Futures and Options
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: AREC326; or ECON326; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
The economics and institutional features of commodity futures and options markets. Students will develop a basic understanding of the underlying price relationships between cash and futures markets and will apply this information to business risk management decision making.
AREC454
The Economics of Climate Change
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (AREC326, ECON306, ECON326); and 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (ECON230, ECON321, BMGT230).
Cross-listed with: ECON484.
Credit only granted for: AREC454 or ECON484.
The role of economics in the formation of climate policy; basic concepts of environmental economics including efficiency, externalities, and policy instruments; economic models of intertemporal decisions and decision making in the face of uncertainty. Applied economic analysis of specific issues and current policy initiatives.
AREC456
Energy and Environmental Economics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (AREC326, ECON306, ECON326); and 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (ECON230, ECON321, BMGT230).
Cross-listed with: ECON486.
Credit only granted for: AREC456 or ECON486.
Economic theory and empirical methods are used to study problems of energy, the environment, and the economy. It examines the extraction, production, and use of energy and market institutions and regulatory approaches used to correct market failures. Topics covered include: oil and natural gas markets, management and design of electricity markets, renewable energy, non-market valuation , climate change, and transportation policies.
AREC466
Transportation Engineering, Economics, and Policy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: BMGT230, ECON230, ECON321, ENCE302, or PLCY304; or permission of the instructors.
Recommended: AREC326, ECON306 or ECON326.
Credit only granted for: AREC466 or ENCE489T.
The transportation system moves people and goods around the world, but transportation has downsides: harming local air quality, contributing to climate change, causing traffic accidents, and wasting people's time on congested roads. Mitigating these downsides will require new policies, new technologies, and new decisions by households and businesses. Focusing on the US transportation system, students will apply an integrated economics, policy, and engineering perspective to analyze transportation's most pressing challenges. Students are expected to have some background in one of the three disciplines--economics, engineering, or policy--but not all three. The beginning of the semester will include tutorials for students without much economics or engineering background.
AREC481
Environmental Economics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (AREC326, ECON306, ECON326); and 1 course with a minimum grade of C- from (ECON230, ECON321, BMGT230).
Restriction: Must be in one of the following programs (Agricultural and Resource Economics; Agricultural and Resource Economics: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Resource Economics: Environmental and Resource Economics; Economics Bachelor of Arts; Environmental Science & Policy-Env Economics; Social Data Science-Economics; Economics minor).
Cross-listed with: ECON481.
Credit only granted for: ECON481 or AREC481.
An exploration of the use of economic incentives for protection of the environment and the determination of appropriate (or efficient) level of environmental quality. Also covers the choice of policy instruments for the attainment of environmental standards.
AREC610
Microeconomic Applications in Agricultural and Resource Markets
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: ECON603 and AREC620.
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.
AREC624
Applied Econometrics II
Credits:
4
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: AREC623.
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.
AREC699
Special Problems in Agricultural and Resource Economics
Credits:
1 - 2
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
AREC783
Environmental Taxation and Regulation
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
Prerequisite: ECON603 and ECON604; and graduate-level econometrics.
Credit only granted for: AREC783 or AREC869W.
Formerly: AREC869W.
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.
AREC799
Master's Thesis Research
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
S-F
AREC815
Experimental and Behavioral Economics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, S-F
Prerequisite: AREC623, AREC624, ECON603, and ECON604; or equivalent.
Credit only granted for: AREC815 or AREC869A.
Formerly: AREC869A.
An overview of the design, implementation, and analysis of experiments motivated by behavioral economics, with a particular focus on experiments in field settings. Topics covered include social preferences, risk aversion, prospect theory, present bias, overconfidence, and limited attention.
AREC847
Networks, Social Learning and Technology Adoption
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
Prerequisite: AREC624, AREC623, and ECON603; and students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
This class will focus on networks, learning from others, and peer effects and the role ofeach in human capital accumulation, technology adoption and behavior. The material isfocused on applications of education, health agriculture and entrepreneurship in developingcountries, but will draw heavily from literatures on these effects in developed countries aswell. The class will cover the theory of networks and learning but its primary focus will beon the empirical difficulty of identifying these effects and establishing causality.
AREC869B
Advanced Topics in Agricultural and Resource Economics; Applied Economic Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
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.
AREC898
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits:
1 - 8
Grad Meth:
S-F
AREC899
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits:
6
Grad Meth:
S-F
Flagship Institution of the University System of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
/
Phone:
301.405.1000
Copyright
© 2024 University of Maryland
/
Privacy /
Web Accessibility
Contact us
with comments, questions and feedback
/