Minor Fields

Three minor fields are available:

• Advanced Agricultural Economics
• Agricultural Policy
• Institutional Economics

The areas of study and course requirements for these are described below.

Note: A minor field may also be made up of two courses from one of the major fields.

Advanced Agricultural Economics

Overview

This field consists of three 900-level advanced Ph.D. courses. In defining their major field, Ph.D. students must choose one of these courses along with the two required core courses for that field. Advanced Agricultural Economics is offered as a minor field to accommodate students who wish to take the other two 900-level courses as their agricultural economics minor field.

Course List

AEC 925 Advanced Natural Resource Economics
AEC 930 Dynamic Analysis in Agriculture and Natural Resources
AEC 932 Information Economics and Institutions in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Agricultural Policy

Overview

Areas of study in agricultural policy include the nature of public policy as a problem-solving decision process and as a multidisciplinary subject matter, and the nature of policy analysis as the application to policy issues of the concepts of economics and other disciplines combined with appropriate quantitative techniques. These topics are addressed in both a domestic and international setting. Specific attention is given to the issues and methods of analysis related to agricultural trade.

Faculty

Faculty in this area have special expertise in international trade policy, the domestic policy process and institutions, environmental and natural resource policy, and state and local community development issues. Teaching, research, and extension programs in this area are strongly oriented to current policy issues.

Course Program

Students should develop the ability to select and apply to policy issues the appropriate economic and other disciplinary concepts with appropriate analytical methods, and also to understand in depth one or more specific areas of policy. Command of a specific policy subject matter involves factual knowledge of the relevant policies, the history of their development and consequences, and an understanding of the associated decision process and the major institutions involved. Students with a research interest in agricultural policy may want to select their second minor field to complement and extend their policy focus. Depending on the students' interests this might include an environmental and resource economics, international development, or marketing field in the department, or one of the fields in the Department of Economics (e.g., monetary theory, international trade, industrial organization, etc.).

Research

Faculty in this area conduct research on topics including environmental and resource economics policy; agricultural trade agreements and policy impacts; community development policy and the role of state and local government; property rights and biotechnology; agricultural research and technology policy; and policies regarding food safety.

Course List

AEC 810 Institutional and Behavioral Economics
AEC 817 Political Economy of Agricultural and Trade Policy
AEC 977 Professional Practice in Agricultural Economics

Courses of Interest in Other Departments

EAD 942 Economic Analysis in Educational Policy Making
EC 425 Law and Economics
EC 440 International Trade
EC 441 International Finance
EC 819 Economic Role of Government
EC 831 Problems in Monetary Theory and Policy
EC 840 International Trade: Theory and Commercial Policy
EC 841 Exchange Rates and Capital Flows
EC 842 Managerial Economics and Public Policy
FOR 466 Natural Resources Planning and Policy
MGT 409 Business Policy and Strategic Management
PLS 801 Quantitative Techniques in Public Policy and Political Science I
PLS 802 Quantitative Techniques in Public Policy and Political Science II
PLS 811 Proseminar in Policy Analysis
PLS 853 Political Economy of Development Policy
PLS 910 Research Seminar in Public Policy and Public Administration
PRM 453 Women and Work: Issues and Policy Analysis
PRR 841 Park and Recreation Administration and Policy
RD 440 Environmental Policy Making in Michigan
RD 446 Environmental Issues and Public Policy
RD 830 Wetlands Law and Policy
RD 836 Law of Environmental Regulation
RD 843 Comparative Resource and Environmental Policy
SW 821 Social Welfare Policy and Service Delivery Systems
SW 910 Social Problems and Social Policy
TE 942 Economic Analysis in Educational Policy Making
TE 965 The Craft of Policy Analysis in Education
UP 848 Urban Policy Analysis
ZOL 446 Environmental Issues and Public Policy

Faculty List

• Adesoji Adelaja, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy; Ph.D., West Virginia University, 1985; agricultural and land use policy, urban communities, economic development of food and natural-resource-based industries, planning and innovation in higher education.
• Sandra S. Batie, Elton R. Smith Professor in Food and Agricultural Policy; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1973; agricultural, environmental, and natural resource policy.
• James H. Hilker, Professor; Ph.D., Purdue, 1982; agricultural outlook, commodity marketing.
• John P. Hoehn, Professor; Ph.D., Kentucky, 1983; environmental and natural resource economics, nonmarket valuation, benefit-cost analysis.
• Richard D. Horan, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State, 1997; environmental and natural resource economics and policy; controlling nonpoint pollution; "green" accounting.
• William A. Knudson, Visiting Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1988; agricultural policy.
• Colletta Moser, Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1971; labor economics, community development.
• Robert J. Myers, University Distinguished Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1986; commodity price analysis, agricultural finance, econometrics.
• Patricia E. Norris, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1988; land resource economics, land use, environmental policy.
• David Schweikhardt, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1989; agricultural and trade policy.
• Paul B. Thompson, W. K. Kellogg Professor in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics; Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1980; pragmatism in practical ethics, risks and ethics of agricultural and food biotechnology, philosophy of technology and economics.
• Suzanne D. Thornsbury, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1998. Food systems economics, international trade, produce market organization and competitiveness.

Institutional Economics

Overview

This field acquaints students with an important school of economics which has historically been distinct from mainstream neoclassical economics. Institutional economics is a diverse field. Incorporation of the concepts and approaches of institutional economics into mainstream economics has been growing rapidly. This is particularly true in the field of development economics, where most research now reflects at least some elements of the institutional economics paradigm. Institutional economics is also relevant to the study of contracting, strategic alliances, and other institutions used by firms in the increasingly vertically integrated agribusiness and food industry sectors.

Faculty

Faculty in this area have expertise in law and economics, property rights (including intellectual property), the origins and evolution of economic institutions, information economics, and analysis of the performance of alternative institutions within the food and agriculture system.

Research

Recent research has focused on social capital, intellectual property rights and biotechnology, and the analysis of alternative institutional arrangements for promoting more rapid agricultural and economic growth in the countries of Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. (See department research page.)

Course List

AEC 810 Institutional and Behavioral Economics
AEC 841 Analysis of Food System Organization and Performance
AEC 932 Information Economics and Institutions in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Courses of Interest in Other Departments

EC 815 Economic Thought I
EC 816 Economic Thought II
EC 819 Economic Role of Government
EC 911 Strategic Behavior in Economic Environments

Faculty List

• Sandra S. Batie, Elton R. Smith Professor in Food and Agricultural Policy; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1973; agricultural, environmental, and natural resource policy.
• J. Roy Black, Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1975; production economics, firm modeling, economics of information, crop insurance.
• Larry G. Hamm, Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1981; food system marketing, dairy industry, agribusiness, institutional economics.
• Patricia E. Norris, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1988; land resource economics, land use, environmental policy.
• John M. Staatz, Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1984; agricultural development, food systems economics, marketing.

(Web pages for faculty, organized by field)