Course Descriptions and Syllabi

The following is the list of graduate courses offered by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. See the OSU General Catalog for course offerings in other departments or the Schedule of Classes for timing of course offerings.

AREC 512. MICROECONOMIC THEORY I. 4 credits. Economic theories of consumer behavior and demand, production, cost, the firm, supply, and competitive and monopoly market structures. Prereq: AREC 312. Crosslisted with ECON 512.

AREC 513. MICROECONOMIC THEORY II. 4 credits. Economic theories of imperfect competition, input markets, general equilibrium and welfare econ. Prereq: AREC 512. Crosslisted with ECON 513.

AREC 514. DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION. 4 credits. Optimal control theory; maximum principle, terminal conditions, hamiltonian, infinite horizon, constrained, and stochastic control problems. Economic interpretations and applications to natural resource, economic growth, and international economic problems. Prereq: MTH 251 and AREC 512. Crosslisted with ECON 514.

AREC 523. STATISTICS FOR ECONOMETRICS. 4 credits. Syllbus [PDF]. Examines mathematical and statistical topics essential for graduate-level econometric analysis, including matrix algebra, probability and distribution theory (emphasizing joint and conditional distributions), statistical inference, and econometric optimization algorithms. Prereq: MATH 253; ST 351; and ST 352 or ECON 424/524. Crosslisted with ECON 523.

AREC 525. ECONOMETRIC METHODS. 4 credits. Syllabus [PDF]. The use of multiple regression under generalized assumptions, specification problems, an introduction to simultaneous equation estimation, the classical linear model using matrices. Emphasis on the analysis of data and communication of findings. Prereq: ECON 424 and AREC 512 and AREc 523. Crosslisted with ECON 525.

AREC 526. APPLIED ECONOMETRICS. 4 credits. Model building, hypothesis testing, and appropriate estimation procedures including generalized least squares, seemingly unrelated regressions, simultaneous equations, maximum likelihood, and limited dependent variables. Emphasis on applications and interpretation of results. Prereq: AREC 525. Crosslisted with ECON 526.

AREC 534. NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Examines economic perspectives on the use and management of natural resources (e.g., fish, wildlife) and environmental quality (e.g., water, air). Prereq: AREC 311.

AREC 543. APPLIED TRADE ANALYSIS. 4 credits. The aim of the course is to introduce students to empirical international trade analysis. Topics covered are empirical work on the Ricardian and factor endowment models and models of imperfect competition. Additional topics include trade policy, productivity analysis, and economic integration. Applications will be drawn from a wide range of industries.. Prereq: AREC 512 and 525. ECON 540 is recommended.

AREC 550. ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Historical development of environmental management and environmental economics; economics of pollution, including the concept of economic efficiency, the optimal level of pollution control approaches; measuring environmental values and damage, including the contingent valuation methods, revealed preference models, and the transfer of such values; and time, discount rates, uncertainty, sustainable development. Prereq: AREC 512.

AREC 551. NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Brief introduction to welfare economics with emphasis on defining economic efficiency, intertemporal efficiency, and other criteria for economic policy; property rights and natural resource use; sources of inefficient allocation of natural resources; benefit-cost analysis with full and limited information; exhaustible resources; renewable resources; conservation and preservation. Prereq: AREC 512.

AREC 452/552. MARINE AND FISHERY ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Economic aspects of marine resource utilization and management; the "open access" aspect of marine resources; conflict and allocation of marine resources; marine resource markets; economics of marine firms. Includes marine recreation, minerals, pollution, aquaculture, and transportation with special emphasis on commercial fisheries. Prereq: AREC 351 or AREC 311. Offered alternate years.

AREC 453/553. PUBLIC LAND AND RESOURCE LAW. 4 credits. Constitutional, administrative, and historical foundations of federal natural resources law and related public policy. Applicable case law emphasizing water, range, mineral, wildlife, and recreation resources. Prereq: AREC 353 or AREC 253.

AREC 454/554. RURAL DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS AND POLICY. 3 credits. Theories of economic change in developed and less-developed economies; natural resource sectors and the development of rural regions, with emphasis on growth, diversification and instability; resource mobility and the spatial aspects of development; poverty and inequality; rural development policy. Prereq: AREC 300 or AREC 311. Offered alternate years.

AREC 465/565. AGRICULTURAL FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ANALYSIS. 2 credits. Covers balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, and state-ment of owner equity using standards outlined by the Farm Financial Standards Task Force. The use of ratios to evaluate financial performance. Prereq: AREC 211, 300, BA 340.

AREC 466/566. AGRICULTURAL TAXATION AND POLICY. 1 credit. Overview of the federal, state, and local tax systems as they pertain to agriculture. Exposure to completing federal and state income tax forms for farms. Business organizational form and its impacts on tax obligations and estate planning. Prereq: AREC 211.

AREC 467/567. CAPITAL BUDGETING IN AGRICULTURE. 1 credit. Overview of capital budgeting techniques as applied to agribusiness decisions. Specific topics include methods of controlling land, leasing versus buying nonland capital assets. Prereq: AREC 211, AREC 300, AREC 465/565, BA 340.

AREC 471. ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS. 1 credit. Examines fundamental entrepreneurial responsibilities and decisions applicable to the operation of agricultural and natural resource based firms. Topics include decision-making, business models, entrepreneurship, strategic planning, enterprise selection, and business plans.

AREC 472. COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES. 1 credit. Examines attributes of the agribusiness industry as they influence the competitiveness of firms and the strategies they adopt to compete successfully. Topics include industry organization, models of market competition, competitive strategies, and tools for analyzing competitiveness. Prereq: AREC 221 or AREC 370.

AREC 473. RISK MANAGEMENT IN AGRIBUSINESS. 1 credit. Examines risk management as it applies to decision making in the agribusiness industries. Topics include the meaning and measurement of risk, risk management tools, and risk management strategies. Prereq: AREC 211 or AREC 221 and ST 351.

AREC 474. PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. 1 credit. Examines the management and operations of agribusiness firms from the perspective of underlying production and cost analysis. Topics include production econ., cost estimation and analysis, and linear programming. Prereq: AREC 300 or AREC 311 and ST 352.

AREC 581. SPECIAL TOPICS. 1-3 credits. Various topics in agricultural and resource economics of special and current interest not covered in other courses. May be repeated for credit.

AREC 611. MATH FOR ECONOMICS. 4 credits. Mathematical concepts necessary for pursuing microeconomic theory at the Ph.D. level: general topology (sets, functions, and cardinality); convex analysis (separation, saddle point, and Kuhn-Tucker theorems), and optimal control theory. Prereq: MATH 254.

AREC 612. ADVANCED MICROECONOMIC THEORY: PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION, AND MARKETS. 4 credits. A rigorous development of the theory of production, consumption, and markets, with emphasis on duality. Prereq: MATH 254, AREC 513, and AREC 611.

AREC 613. ADVANCED MICROECONOMIC THEORY: GAMES, WELFARE, AND INFORMATION. 4 credits. A rigorous development of the theory of games, general equilibrium, welfare, and information. Prereq: AREC 612.

AREC 617. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 3 credits. An examination of what constitutes reliable knowledge in economics; philosophy of science and economic research; fundamental economic concepts affecting economic research; quantitative techniques and empirical investigation. Prereq: Completion of one academic year of graduate work in economics or a related field.

AREC 643. INTERNATIONAL TRADE II. 3 credits. Syllabus [PDF]. Theoretical and empirical approaches to the analysis of international trade in food and fiber products and of related trade; macroeconomic and agricultural policies; interdependencies between international trade and natural resource use. Prereq: AREC 513, AREC 526, and ECON 640.

AREC 651. ADVANCED NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Dynamic allocation of scarce exhaustible and renewable natural resources; social versus private decisions; market and nonmarket considerations; technological change; regulation; dynamics and uncertainty. Prereq: AREC 513 and AREC 526. Offered alternate years.

AREC 652. ADVANCED ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS. 3 credits. Interrelationships of natural resource use and the environment; applied welfare and benefit-cost analysis; externalities and pollution abatement; nonmarket valuation of resources; property rights; legal and social constraints; policy approaches. Prereq: AREC 513 and AREC 526. Offered alternate years.

AREC 681. SPECIAL TOPICS. 1-3 credits. Various topics in agricultural and resource economics of special and current interest not covered in other courses. May be repeated for credit.