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FIFTY-SIX REASONS

to do your graduate study in the University of Maryland's

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Here's what to tell your family, friends, and academic advisor about why you're choosing the University of Maryland.

Fall 2009 Edition

We recommend that prospective graduate students look at departments based on the research prominence and expertise of the faculty. Here is how to judge the University of Maryland.

MAJOR CATEGORIES OF REASONS

Rank of the Department

Award Winning Faculty

Policy Experience of Faculty

Professional Leadership of Faculty

Editorial Experience of the Faculty

Employment Placement of Recent Graduates

Quality of the Educational Experience

Proximity to Major Government Agencies & Related Organizations

The Expertise of Faculty

RANK OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Department is consistently rated among the very best agricultural and resource economics departments anywhere.

1. The Department is ranked third among academic agricultural economics institutions registered with Research Papers In Economics (RePEc).

2. Professional opinion ranks the Department as the best in Resource and Environmental Economics

A survey of opinions of members of the American Agricultural Economic Association used as reviewers for its major journal by Gregory Perry rank the Department as the best in Resource & Environmental Economics.
See http://arec.oregonstate.edu/Ranking2004.pdf.

3. Professional opinion ranks the Department as third in Agricultural Economics

The same survey of professional opinion ranks the Department third in Agricultural Economics behind only the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis.

 

AWARD WINNING FACULTY

The Department's faculty include the most award-winning faculty of all agricultural & resource economics departments.

4. John Bates Clark Medal

Marc Nerlove, 1969

5. Alexander von Humboldt Award

Ramon Lopez, 2001

6. American Agricultural Economics Association Publication of Enduring Quality Award

Bob Chambers 1999

Darrell Hueth 1994

Richard Just 1992, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2005; Honorable mention 2002

Marc Nerlove 1979

7. American Agricultural Economics Association Quality of Research Discovery Award

Bob Chambers 1985, 1990; Honorable mention 1997, 2001

Richard Just 1978, 1990, 1997, 2008; Honorable mention 1981, 1984, 1991, 2003

Marc Nerlove 1958, 1961 [before award name change]

8. Outstanding Journal Article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics

Richard Just 1982; Honorable mention 1994

Marc Nerlove 1956

9. American Agricultural Economics Association Quality of Communication Award

Richard Just 2007 

Ted McConnell, Honorable mention 2002

10. American Agricultural Economics Association Distinguished Extension Program

James Hanson 1994

11. Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA)

Bob Chambers, 1999

Richard Just, 1989

Ted McConnell, 2001

Marc Nerlove, 1993 

12. Fellows of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE)

13. Fellow of the American Statistical Association

Marc Nerlove, 1964

 

14. Fellow of the Econometric Society

Marc Nerlove, 1960

15. Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Marc Nerlove, 1971

16. Member, National Academy of Sciences

Marc Nerlove, 1979

17. Waugh Memorial Lecture (AAEA)

Marc Nerlove, 1991

POLICY EXPERIENCE OF FACULTY

Faculty of the Department have held some of the most prominent positions in government responsible for agricultural and environmental policy.

18. Senior Staff Economist, President's Council of Economic Advisors

Bob Chambers 1985-1986

Howard Leathers 1992-1993

Erik Lichtenberg 1993-1994

John List (Adjunct) 2002-2003

19. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board

Anna Alberini 2003-present

Maureen Cropper (Affiliate)

John List (Adjunct) 2001

20. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Environmental Economics Working Group

Maureen Cropper (Affiliate)

Andreas Lange

John List (Adjunct), faculty research fellow, 2003-present

Rob Williams

21. Service in other U.S. government agencies

John Horowitz: Economic Research Service, USDA, 2009

John Horowitz: Office of Economic Policy, Department of the Treasury, 2001-2002

Lori Lynch: Economic Research Service, USDA, 1989-1991

PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP OF FACULTY

The faculty of the Department are the leaders of learned societies in the Department's primary fields.

22. Officers of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

President

Maureen Cropper (Affiliate): 1995-1996

Ted McConnell: 1991-1992

Vice President

John Horowitz: 2004-2006

Board of Directors

Anna Alberini: 2000-2002

 

23. Officers of the American Agricultural Economics Association

President-elect, President, Past President

Richard Just 2007-2010

 

24. Officer of Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

President-elect, President, Past President

Lori Lynch, 2007-2009 

 

25. President of the Econometric Society

Marc Nerlove 1981

 

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE OF THE FACULTY

The faculty of the Department have served as editors and on editorial boards of the major scholarly journals of the Department's primary fields.

26. Board of Editors of the American Economic Review

John List (Adjunct) 2004-present

Marc Nerlove 1970-1972

27. Editing of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE)

Editor

Erik Lichtenberg, 2007-2011

Richard Just, 1984-1986

Associate Editor

Bob Chambers 1984-1986

Erik Lichtenberg 1998-2002

Editorial Council

Richard Just 1978-1980

28. Editing of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (JEEM)

Co-editor

Anna Alberini 2001-2004

John List (Adjunct) 2004-present

Ted McConnell 1985-1987

Rob Williams 2007-present

Associate Editor

Anna Alberini 2000

Ramon Lopez 1998-1999 

Lars Olson 1996-1999

Editorial Board

Anna Alberini 1998-2001

John Horowitz 1992-1993, 1997-2001, 2003-present

John List (Adjunct) 2001-2003

Ted McConnell 1992-1996

Lars Olson 1994-1995, 2001-2004

Rob Williams 2005-2007

29. Editing of the Journal of Public Economics (JPubE)

Rob Williams

30. Editorial Board Members of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Review (ARER)

Ken Leonard 2005-2008

Doug Lipton 2005-2008

31. Editorial roles with other professional journals

John Horowitz Agricultural and Resource Economics Review Editorial Board 1997-1999

Howard Leathers Agricultural and Resource Economics Review Editorial Board 1999-2005

Erik Lichtenberg Agricultural and Resource Economics Review Editorial Board 1994-1995

Doug Lipton International Journal of Recirculating Aquaculture Editorial Board 1999-2003

John List (Adjunct) Experimental Economics Editorial Board 2004-present; Berkeley Electronic Journals in Economic Analysis and Policy Editorial Board 2004-present; Journal of Regional Science Associate Editor 2001-present; Environmental and Resource Economics Co-editor 2001-2004, Editorial Board 2001-present; Editorial Board 2004-present; American Economic Review Editorial Board 2004-present; Journal of Economic Literature Board of Editors 2006-present; Journal of Environmental Economics and Management Co-editor 2004-present, Editorial Council 2001-present; Letters in Spatial and Resource Economics Editorial Board 2006-present 

Richard Just Western Journal of Agricultural Economics Editorial Council 1982-1984; Journal of Development Planning Literature Editorial Board 1985-1991

Ramon Lopez Environmental and Development Economics Associate Editor 1995-2003 Journal of Policy Reform Editorial Board 1994-present

Lori Lynch Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 2003-present

Ted McConnell Journal of Marine Resource Economics Editorial Council 1981-present; Land Economics Editorial Council 1985-1997; Journal of Environmental Economics and Management Editorial Council 1992-1996

Marc Nerlove Journal of the American Statistical Association Associate Editor 1960-1962; Journal of Economic Literature Editorial Board 1969-1971

 

EMPLOYMENT PLACEMENT OF RECENT GRADUATES

Students receiving recent graduate degrees from the Department have found employment in choice academic positions and the best international organizations.

32. Placement of graduate students in U.S. academic positions

Sarah Adelman, Mount Holyoke College

Timothy Fitzgerald, Montana State University

Shaikh Mahfuz Rahman, Texas Tech University

Xiangping Liu, North Carolina State University

Charles Towe, University of Maryland

Michael Price, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Constant Tra, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Gregmar Galinato, Washington State University

Craig Landry, East Carolina State University

 

33. Placement of graduate students in international academic positions

Chad Lawley, University of Manitoba, Canada

Ravissa Suchato, Kasetsart University, Thailand

Beat Hintermann. ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Marcella Veronesi, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Mohammed Helal Uddin, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Oscar Melo, Ponticia Universidad Catalica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Oscar Cristi, Universidad del Desarrolla, Santiago, Chile

 

34. Placement of graduate students in U.S. government agencies in Washington

Andrew Stocking, Congressional Budget Office, Washington DC

Roger Claassen, USDA ERS, Washington DC

Heather Klemick, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC

Glenn Sheriff, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC

 

35. Placement of graduate students in major international organizations

Yabei Zhang, World Bank, Washington DC

Lopamudra Chakraborti, World Bank, Washington DC

Paramita Sinha, RTI International, Research Triangle, North Carolina

Hernan Gonzalez, United Nations Development Programme, Santiago, Chile

Ekaterina Krivonos, Economic Commission for Latin American and Carribbean, Santiago, Chile

Nancy Bergeron, The Conference Board of Canada, Forecasting and Analysis, Ottawa, Canada

Jotsyna Puri, United Nations, New York, NY

Irina Klytchnikova, World Bank, Washington DC

Valerie Mueller, IFPRI, Washington DC

 

36. Placement of graduate students in consulting positions

Tulika Narayan, ABT Associates Inc.

QUALITY OF THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Department strives to offer the highest quality educational experience in agricultural & resource economics.

37. A major emphasis is on engaging students in publishable research starting in their first year.

The Department offers annual awards for graduate student performance:

a. The Rhona Lantin Award for the best paper written by a first-year graduate student.

b. The Bessie H. Duvault Award for the best paper written by a second-year graduate student.

c. The Billy V. and Mary Lessley Award for the best dissertation.

These awards are accompanied by a substantial cash reward. They encourage students to think about writing publishable research papers, the bread-and-butter of future careers, starting on the very first day of graduate school.

38. American Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding PhD Dissertation Awards won by students

Constant Tra 2008

Ricardo Smith-Ramirez 2006

Dan Gilligan Honorable mention 2005

Timothy Haab 1996

Madhur Gautam Honorable mention 1994

Rodney Smith 1993

Douglas Larson 1989

To get the real inside scoop on this topic, we invite prospective students to visit the campus and talk with faculty and graduate students.

PROXIMITY OF MAJOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND RELATED ORGANIZATIONS

The Department offers close proximity to an incomparable array of government agencies, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations devoted to environmental issues, agricultural policy, natural resource management, and international development. Opportunities for attending stimulating seminars abound. Many students find useful work experience, access to data, and cutting-edge thesis topics as well as future employment through these organizations.

39. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is located only 9.7 miles away.

40. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is located only 10.6 miles away.

41. The U.S. Economic Research Service (ERS) is located only 9.4 miles away.

42. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is located only 1.5 miles away.

43. Resources for the Future (RFF) is located only 9.0 miles away.

44. The Joint Institute for Food Science and Nutrition (JIFSAN) is located on the University of Maryland campus.

45. The Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI) is located adjacent to the University of Maryland campus.

46. The National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education is located on the University of Maryland campus.

47. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is located only 9.9 miles away.

48. The World Bank is located only 10.0 miles away.

49. The Inter-American Development Bank is located only 9.8 miles away.

50. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is located only 9.8 miles away.

51. The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) with its National Agricultural Library is located only 3.1 miles away.

52. The U.S. Capitol, Senate, and House of Representatives, which enacts all federal law, is enacted is located only 9.5 miles away.

THE EXPERTISE OF FACULTY

The Department faculty's expertise provides an extremely broad and deep coverage of agricultural, environmental, and natural resource economics. A list of major topical areas of departmental expertise (a partial list in no particular order) follows. In addition, students can count on instruction grounded in frontier-level economic theory and econometrics, the two pillars of economics.

53. Major areas of faculty expertise include:

54. Recent books by faculty of the Department. Titles published just since 2000

Alberini, Anna, Paolo Rosato and Margherita Turvani (eds) (2006), Valuing Complex Natural
Resource Systems: The Case of the Lagoon of Venice, Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar
Publishing.

Alberini, Anna, and James R. Kahn (eds) (2006), Handbook on Contingent Valuation, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing (February 2006)

Bockstael, NE and KE McConnell, Environmental and Resource Valuation with Revealed Preferences, Springer, 360 pages, December 2006*.

Chambers, RG & J Quiggin - Uncertainty, Production Choice and Agency: The State-Contingent Approach, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Haab, TC and KE McConnell - Valuing Environmental and Natural Resources: Econometrics for Non-Market Valuation, Edward Elgar Publishers, hardback 2002, paperback 2003.

Just, RE and RD Pope, Eds - A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in US Agriculture, Kluwer Publishing, 2002.

Just, RE, DL Hueth and A Schmitz - The Welfare Economics of Public Policy: A Practical Approach to Project and Policy Evaluation, Edwin Elgar Press, hardback 2004, paperback 2005.

Just, RE, JM Alston, and D. Zilberman. Regulating Agricultural Biotechnology:
Economics and Policy, Springer Publishers, 2006.

Just, RE, DL Hueth, and A. Schmitz. Applied Welfare Economics, Edward Elgar, 2008.

Lange, A.  Applied Research in Environmental Economics", with Christoph Böhringer (eds), 2005, Springer, ZEW Economic Studies.

Lange, A.  Umweltpolitische Entscheidungen unter Unsicherheit und bei Restriktionen in der Instrumentenwahl, 2001, Peter Lang, Frankfurt.

Leathers, HD and P Foster - The World Food Problem, 4th Edition, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009.

List, JA and A de Zeeuw, Eds - Recent Advances in Environmental Economics, Edward Elgar Publishers, 2002.

López, R and JC Jordan - Sustainable Development in Latin America: Financing and Policies Working in Synergy, Organization of American States Press, 2000.

López, R and A Valdes - Rural Poverty in Latin America, MacMillan Press, 2001.

Dhareshwar, A, Y Wang, R. López, and N Kishor- The Quality of Growth, Oxford University Press, 2000.

López, R and M. Toman (2006). Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Nerlove, ML - Essays on Panel Data Econometrics, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Scarpa, Riccardo, and Anna Alberini (eds) (2005), Applications of Simulation Methods in Environmental and Resource Economics, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

55. International Visibility

Countries that the faculty of the Department have visited recently in a professional capacity include the following:

International awards received by faculty of the Department include:

James Hanson, Fulbright Fellowship, 1983

Erik Lichtenberg, Fulbright Fellowship, 1998

Erik Lichtenberg, University of Helsinki Bronze Medal, 2002

Ramon Lopez, von Humboldt Research Award, 2002

Marc Nerlove, Fulbright Fellowship, 1962-1963, 1987

Marc Nerlove, Docteur Honors Causa de l'Universite de Geneve, 2000

Marc Nerlove, Honorary Fellow, Argentine Association of Political Economy, 2000

Marc Nerlove, Dr. Rerung Politik from University of Mannheim, 1982

56. The University of Maryland has a long tradition of environmental scholarship in related disciplines

The University of Maryland has a long tradition of environmental scholarship throughout the University and on all sides of the issues. Past and present faculty across campus have included:

Thomas Schelling (Nobel laureate and author of The Strategy of Conflict and Arms and Influence, Department of Economics, School of Public Policy)

Rachel Carson (author of Silent Spring, her early career was in the Department of Zoology)

Robert Costanza (founder of Ecological Economics, formerly Director of the UM Institute for Ecological Economics,)

Herman Daly (author of Toward a Steady-State Economy and co-author of For the Common Good, School of Public Policy)

Wallace Oates (author of Theory of Environmental Policy with W. Baumol, Department of Economics)

John Quiggin (current contributor to CrookedTimber.org, former visiting and adjunct faculty of the Department)

Mark Sagoff (author of The Economy of the Earth and Do We Consume Too Much?, School of Public Policy)

Julian Simon (author of The Ultimate Resource and Population Matters, College of Business and Management)

What other University can boast of a history that includes the likes of Rachel Carson and Julian Simon and Herman Daly and Thomas Schelling?

For further information about the faculty of the Department, potential students are invited to explore the websites of faculty found at http://www.arec.umd.edu/People/Faculty/

For more information, contact the webmaster.

Last updated: 10/26/2009

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