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Courses - Fall 2024
AREC
Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Site
Open Seats as of
05/02/2024 at 10:30 PM
AREC200
The Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem: Intersection of Science, Economics, and Policy
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DSNS or DSSP, SCIS
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the most studied and monitored ecosystems in the world. To develop effective policies to restore this system to a healthier status requires integrating what we know about the biological and physical properties of the system with our understanding of the human dimension. Issues such as achieving nutrient reduction goals, restoring healthy blue crab and oyster fisheries in the bay will be used to demonstrate how economics interacts with science to guide policies that can be effective in achieving Bay restoration goals.
AREC241
Environment, Economics and Policy
Credits: 4
Grad Meth: Reg
GenEd: DSHS, SCIS
Credit only granted for: AREC240 or AREC241.
How can economics help us understand modern environmental problems and design better policies to solve them? This course studies the relationship between the economy, environment and policy. The importance of production, consumption, externalities, property rights and public goods in environmental issues is examined. Technological and incentive-based solutions are considered. Students will apply these concepts to evaluate current controversial environmental problems.
AREC250
Elements of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DSHS
Credit only granted for: ECON200, AREC240 or AREC250.
An introduction to economic principles of production, marketing, agricultural prices and incomes, farm labor, credit, agricultural policies, and government programs.
AREC306
Farm Management and Sustainable Food Production
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DSSP
The organization and operation of farm businesses are explored through principles of management, financial analysis, production economics, marketing, and business planning. These farm management principles are presented in the context of a sustainable food production system.
AREC326
Intermediate Applied Microeconomics
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg
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
Global Poverty and Economic Development
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DSHS, DVUP
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
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DVUP
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.
AREC380
Data Science for Environmental and Resource Economics
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: AREC240, AREC241, AREC250, or ECON200.
An introduction to principles of data science using modern, open source software tools with applications to important problems in environmental, energy and resource economics. Topics include data wrangling, exploratory data analysis and visualization, modeling, forecasting, practices for reproducible research, and communication of results.
AREC386
(Perm Req)
Experiential Learning
Credits: 3 - 6
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: Permission of AGNR-Agricultural & Resource Economics department.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC388
(Perm Req)
Honors Thesis Research
Credits: 3 - 6
Grad Meth: Reg
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC399
Credits: 1 - 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC427
Commodity Pricing and Markets
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 theory as applied to the marketing of agricultural commodities. How commodity prices vary with current demand and production, and how prices are linked over time, across space, and across grades. The role played by contractual arrangements, cooperative marketing, vertical integration, and governmental policies in commodity marketing strategies.
AREC430
Introduction to Agricultural and Resource Law
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: ECON326 or AREC326.
Credit only granted for: AREC430 or AREC489K.
Formerly: AREC489K.
Survey of law with emphasis on problems and applications related to agricultural and natural resource economics. The course emphasizes strategies for managing legal risk arising from ownership, management, and use of agricultural resources. Students will get practical information to utilize in personal or professional settings. Contract law, constitutional law, tort law, property law, real estate transactions, business organization, estate planning, and debtor.
AREC445
Agricultural Development, Population Growth and the Environment
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DVUP
Prerequisite: ECON326 or AREC326; or students who have taken courses with comparable content may contact the department.
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.
AREC447
The Economy of China
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: AREC326, ECON306, or ECON326.
An introductory survey course of economic development in China with emphasis on understanding the process of economic reform in mainland China since 1978.
AREC453
Natural Resources and Public Policy
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: AREC326, ECON306, or ECON326; and (BMGT230 or ECON230).
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).
Cross-listed with: ECON453.
Credit only granted for: AREC453 or ECON453.
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.
AREC455
Economics of Land Use
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: ECON485.
Credit only granted for: AREC455 or ECON485.
Fundamentals of location theory. Microeconomics of land use decisions, including determination of rent and hedonic pricing models. Impacts of government decisions on land use, including regulation (e.g., zoning), incentives (transferable development rights), provision of public services, and infrastructure investments. Impacts of land use on environmental quality, including issues relating to sprawl, agricultural land preservation, and other topics of special interest.
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; Environmental Science & Policy-Env Economics; Agricultural and Resource Economics: Environmental and Resource Economics; Economics Bachelor of Arts program).
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.
AREC620
Optimization in Agricultural and Resource Economics
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Must have completed Multivariate calculus and matrix or linear algebra.
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.
AREC623
Applied Econometrics I
Credits: 4
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Introductory statistics or econometrics, linear algebra, and differential/calculus; or permission of instructor.
Additional information: Intended for first-year Ph.D. students from AREC, BUFN, ECON, EDMS, EDUC, PLCY and URSP departments with a background in introductory statistics or econometrics.
A modern introduction to empirical strategies in applied microeconomic research in public policy, development economics, labor economics, education, marketing and corporate finance. Emphasis on causal reasoning and design-driven identification in the social sciences. Concepts and applications will focus on addressing economically meaningful causal questions. Basic theoretical and mathematical aspects of probability and statistics will be developed to assess the significance of the relationship among economic variables. Topics include: the approximation of the conditional expectation function through a linear predictor (Ordinary Least Squares), the effects of omitted variables and the usefulness of variables that resemble the outcome of a randomized experiment (Instrumental Variables), as well as extensions to high-dimensional big-data counterparts. Fundamental concepts in sampling theory, statistical inference (with small and large samples) and hypothesis testing will be studied and applied to real data using Stata, a general-purpose statistical software.
AREC699
(Perm Req)
Special Problems in Agricultural and Resource Economics
Credits: 1 - 2
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC785
Advanced Economics of Natural Resources
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Permission of AGNR-Agricultural & Resource Economics department; or (ECON603 and AREC623).
Cross-listed with: ECON785.
Credit only granted for: AREC785 or ECON785.
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.
AREC799
(Perm Req)
Master's Thesis Research
Credits: 1 - 6
Grad Meth: S-F
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC829
Policy Design and Causal Inference for Social Science
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: AREC623; or permission of instructor. Additional information: Intended for second-year Ph.D. students from AREC, BUFN, ECON, EDMS, EDUC, PLCY and URSP with a background in econometrics comparable to that provided in AREC623.

This course delves into empirical strategies in applied micro research, assessing causal effects of policies or programs on outcomes. These methods are the contemporary toolkit for causal inference in academic areas like public policy, economics, education, and finance, as well as in industries and global organizations. Tailored to second-year Ph.D. students with a quantitative foundation akin to AREC623, the course prioritizes design-based identification using observational data. Modules, dedicated to specific strategies, rotate each academic year, covering regression, matching, instrumental variables, natural experiments, and more. The curriculum also addresses practical coding for real-world application.
AREC832
Agricultural Policy Analysis
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud, S-F
Credit only granted for: AREC632 or AREC832.
The economics of agricultural policies. The impact of agricultural policies on both historic and modern growth, including discussion of optimal farm and ownership structure. Contemporary policy issues in both developed and developing countries. Additional topics in trade, environment, and commodity markets.
AREC891
Introduction to Prospectus Development
Credits: 1
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Completion of the first year of graduate study in AREC.
Credit only granted for: AREC 869K or AREC 891.
Formerly: AREC869K.
Critical evaluation of research, prospectus topic exploration including literature review, data identification, model development, and related presentations. Required of all second-year Ph.D. students.
AREC892
(Perm Req)
Dissertation Prospectus Development
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Completion of two years of the AREC Ph.D. program.
Credit only granted for: AREC 869P or AREC 892.
Formerly: AREC869P.
Presentations of proposed dissertation research including literature review, model development, data identification, and written prospectus development. Required of all third-year Ph.D. students.
AREC898
(Perm Req)
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits: 1 - 8
Grad Meth: S-F
Contact department for information to register for this course.
AREC899
(Perm Req)
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits: 6
Grad Meth: S-F
Contact department for information to register for this course.