Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC)

AREC 210 Applied Calculus for Management, Life Sciences, and Human Resources (3) Applications of mathematics/quantitative methods to agribusiness, life sciences, human resources: equations, graphs, limits, continuity, derivatives, partials, integrals. Pre: two years of high school algebra and one year of geometry, or equivalents. 

AREC 220 Agricultural and Resource Economics (3) Introduction to economics of agricultural production, marketing, prices, income, policy. Includes government policy and programs related to agriculture, land use, farm tenancy, socio-economic problems of farmers in the United States and the world. SS

AREC 310 Statistics in Agriculture and Human Resources (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Principles/applications of statistical methods. Descriptive and inferential statistics, analysis of variance, regression, non-parametric statistics. 

AREC 322 Marketing Agricultural Products (3) Problems, agencies, functions, costs, prices, regulations affecting marketing; proposed improvements. Pre: introductory course in economics or consent. (Alt. years)

AREC 341 Agricultural Accounting and Financial Analysis (3) Principles and methods of agricultural accounting. Preparing and interpreting financial statements. Sources and costs of credit, capital budgeting, tax management, estate planning. Pre: 220, ECON 130, or consent. (Alt. years)

AREC 342 Agribusiness Decision-Making (3) Management and organization, production analysis concerning inputs/outputs, planning/budgeting for economic decision-making, acquiring and managing factors of production. Pre: 220, ECON 130, or consent.

AREC 399 Directed Study (V) Limited to exceptional undergraduate students qualified to carry on advanced study. Pre: consent.

AREC 410 Operations Research for Agricultural Management (3) Techniques of operations research in agricultural decision-making. Classical optimization, linear/non-linear programming, inventory control, queuing, stochastic processes, simulation, decision analysis, and game theory. Pre: 210 and 310, or consent.

AREC 429 Computer Applications in Economic Research (3) Introduction to use of computers for economic and agricultural analysis. Employment of BASIC, electronic spreadsheets, software packages for statistics, regression, and linear programming. Pre: 220 or ECON 130, and 310 or ECON 321; or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 429)

AREC 432 Natural Resource Economics (3) Introduction to the economic theory of optimal management of natural resources and the environment. Property rights, externalities and welfare economics, non-renewable and renewable resource management and regulation, pollution control in theory and practice. Pre: ECON 301 or consent.

AREC 454 Economics of Aquaculture (3) Management of aquaculture business: production, financing, marketing. Industrial development: potentials, constraints, government policies. Pre: 220 or ECON 130.

AREC 456 Marine Resource Economics (3) Major problems and economic issues facing countries in Asia and the Pacific in effectively managing marine resources. Repeatable once. Pre: 220, ECON 130, or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 491)

AREC 458 Project Evaluation and Resource Management (3) Fundamentals of benefit-cost analysis with extensions to environmental impacts and projects; case studies. Pre: ECON 301 or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 458)

AREC 492 Internship (4) Integration and application of academic knowledge and critical skills emphasizing professional development. Placement with an approved cooperating supervisor/employer. Pre: consent.

AREC 500 Master's Plan B/C Studies (1) Enrollment for degree completion. Pre: master's Plan B or C candidate and consent.

AREC 610 Biosystems Modeling (3) Introduction to system thinking, procedures for developing system models, characteristics of important agricultural system modes, computer approach to evaluation and optimization of system models. A–F only. Pre: MATH 242 or consent. (Cross-listed as BE 638)

AREC 624 Research Methodology (3) Philosophical setting for scientific inquiry, scientific method and its antecedents, application in agricultural economics research. Original research project required. Pre: 634 and ECON 608, or consent.

AREC 626 Quantitative Methods in Agricultural Economics I (3) Elementary statistics and probability theory, two variable and multiple variable regression modeling, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, multicollinearity, serial correlation, and heteroskedasticity. Pre: 310 or ECON 321, and MATH 241; or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 628)

AREC 627 Applied Microeconomic Analysis (3) Economic applications to the agricultural and nonagricultural industries are emphasized. Econometric techniques are used to estimate demand, supply, production and cost functions which are analyzed in terms of economic theory and market information. A–F only. Pre: 626 or ECON 425, ECON 627 or ECON 420, and ECON 604 or ECON 606, or consent. (Alt. years)

AREC 628 Applied Production Economics (3) The theoretical foundation of production economics and the theory of the firm are developed. Econometric techniques are used to estimate and explain production and cost functions. Pre: 626 and ECON 627, or consent.

AREC 629 Advanced Production Economics (3) Economics of resource allocation at consumer, firm, and industry levels. Advanced analytical techniques of analysis: programming, synthesis, statistical analysis. Pre: 634 and ECON 608, or consent.

AREC 630 Advanced Agricultural Market Analysis (3) Industrial organization—market analysis encompassing several approaches, such as structure, conduct and performance, contestable markets, and transactions costs. Emphasis on efficiency, productivity, vertical coordination, and equity. Application will focus on the food system, including important marketing institutions and research issues. Pre: 634 and ECON 608, or consent.

AREC 631 International Trade in Agricultural Products (3) Nature of trade in agricultural products; agricultural trade policy issues; role of trade in economic development; multilateral policies, commodity markets, and other current issues in agricultural trade. Pre: 634 and ECON 608, or consent.

AREC 634 Quantitative Methods in Agricultural Economics II (3) Specification, statistical estimation, inference, and forecasting of economic models. Includes advanced topics for single-equation models, pooled models, qualitative dependent variables, simultaneous systems, distributed lags, and time series. Pre: 626 or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 629)

AREC 636 Advanced Agricultural Policy Analysis (3) Agricultural policy objectives, tools, issues. Analytical framework, approaches, and techniques, with empirical application to developed and developing country policies. Pre: 634 and ECON 608, or consent.

AREC 637 Resource Economics (3) Analysis of problems of development and management of natural resources with emphasis on resources in agriculture and role in economic development. Pre: 432, 634, and ECON 608; or consent. (Cross-listed as ECON 637)

AREC 638 Resource and Environmental Policy (3) Exploration of institutional and policy dimensions of natural resource development, management, allocation, markets and pricing, focusing on their environmental impacts. Emphasis on policy analysis using case studies and empirical findings. Original paper required. A–F only. Pre: 634 and ECON 608; or consent. (Alt. years)

AREC 670 Agrarian Systems Analysis (3) Comparative analysis of philosophy and process of interdisciplinary and participatory approaches to sustainable development and rural resource management including farming systems research and extension (FSRandE), agroecosystem analysis (AEA), participatory action research (PAR), and rapid rural appraisal (RRA). Repeatable. Pre: consent. (Cross-listed as AGRS 670)

AREC 694 Economics of Marine Resources (3)

AREC 699 Directed Research (V) Pre: consent.

AREC 700 Thesis Research (V)

AREC 701 (Alpha) Seminar in Agriculture and Resource Economics (3) Topics: (G) general; (I) international trade development and policy; (M) marketing economics; (Q) quantitative methods; (P) production and systems analysis; (R) resource economics. Pre: consent.

AREC 705 Research Seminar (1) Presentation and discussion of student thesis, dissertation, other current research activities. Required for all graduate students. Repeatable. CR/NC only. Pre: consent.

AREC 800 Dissertation Research (V)