Syllabus: Agricultural economics
                    Instructor: Koji Kotani
               Office Hour: Wednesday from 16:00 to 17:30
                    E-mail: kkotani@iuj.ac.jp
        Course synopsis: This course explores the economic foundations for public policy
        analysis related to agricultural issues in rural areas. The emphasis of this course is on
        concepts and introduction of various tools required for policy analysis and empirical
        research in agricultural economics. In particular, the course aims to deepen students’
        understanding of how economic theory can be applied to analyze policy problems of
        agricultural sectors. This course is suitable for individuals who have strong interest in
        economic development and agricultural economics, and want to examine these issues
        with quantitative and econometric methods as a policy analyist.
         As required knowledge, students should be familiar with microeconomics, mathe-
        matics, statistics and econometrics at the level of courses offered in the 1st year at
        International development program (IDP). Softwares to be used are Microsoft excel
        and other econometric packages such as Stata for solving the problem sets as well as
        completing empirical projects.
        Optional references for the course There is no required textbook. However, as
        the class goes on, some academic articles shall be introduced for further reference, which
        are partly listed in this syllabus.
        Grading policy:
         • Two problem sets plus some quizzes: 25%
         • Three to five empirical projects depending on the progress of this course: 50%
          (75% for the 2nd year students)
         • Referee report and Presentation: 25% (only for the 1st year students)
        Problem sets and empirical projects In problem sets, you are asked to solve
        some analytical and numerical problems for consumer and producer economic theory
        to review the materials. On the one hand, empirical projects require you to conduct
        somestatistical and econometric analysis given data for agricultural economic problems.
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        Referee report and Presentation You are asked to choose an academic paper in
        the field of agricultural economics for the purpose of writing a referee report. The paper
        should be the one which is published in some refereed academic journals and has to
        be potentially related with your master thesis. The referee report should amount to a
        minimum of 3 pages with A4 papers and you are asked to make presentation to exhibit
        your understanding on that paper.
        Course structure
        Topic 1 Introduction to agricultural economics
           —Suggested readings
             • Johnson (1997)
        Topic 2 Consumer theory in agricultural economics
           —Suggested readings
             • Chapters related with utility and demand functions in consumer behavior
              in Varian (2007)
             • Chapters 1 to 4 in Deaton and Muellbauer (1980)
        Topic 3 Estimation of demands for agricultural commodities and policy implication
           —Suggested readings
             • Subramanian and Deaton (1996)
             • Pinstrup-Andersen et al. (1976).
        Topic 4 Producer theory in agricultural economics
           —Suggested readings
             • Chapters 18 to 21 in Varian (2007)
             • Chapter 1 in Debertin (1986)
        Topic 5 Structural form approach (profit function approach) on supply sides: Estima-
           tion of profit, supply and factor demand functions
           —Suggested readings
             • Bapna et al. (1984)
             • Fulginiti and Perrin (1990)
        Topic 6 Reduced form approach on a supply side: Supply response model
           —Suggested readings
             • Nerlove and Bessler (2001)
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                           • Rao (1989)
                Topic 7 Behavior and welfare under risk in agricultural economics if time permits
                        —Suggested readings
                           • Chapter 12 in Varian (2007)
                Topic 8 Price distortions of policy interventions in agricultural economics if time per-
                        mits.
                        —Suggested readings
                           • Chapter 16 in Varian (2007)
                           • Chapter 4 in Norton (2004)
                Topic 9 Presentation
                References
                Bapna, S., Binswanger, H., and Quizon, J. (1984). Systems of output supply and
                  factor demand equations for semiarid tropical india. Indian journal of agricultural
                  economics, 39(2):179–202.
                Deaton, A. and Muellbauer, J. (1980). Economics and consumer behavior. Cambridge
                  University Press.
                Debertin, D. L. (1986). Agricultural production economics. Macmillan.
                Fulginiti, L. E. and Perrin, R. K. (1990). Argentine agricultural policy in a multiple-
                  input, multiple-output framework.   American journal of agricultural economics,
                  72(2):279–288.
                Johnson, D. G. (1997). Agriculture and the wealth of nations. American economic
                  review, 87(2):1–12.
                Nerlove, M. and Bessler, D. A. (2001). Expectations, information and dynamics. In
                  Gardner, B. and Rausser, G., editors, Handbook of agricultural economics, volume 1.
                  Elsevier Science B. V.
                Norton, R. D. (2004). Agricultural development policy. Wiley.
                Pinstrup-Andersen, P., Londono, N., and Hoover, E. (1976). The impact of increasing
                  food supply on human nutrition: Implications for commodity priorities in agricultural
                  research and policy. American journal of agricultural economics, 58(2):131–142.
                Rao, J. (1989). Agricultural supply responses: A survey. Agricultural economics, 3:1–22.
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        Subramanian, S. and Deaton, A. (1996). The demand for food and calories. Journal of
         political economy, 104(1):133–162.
        Varian, H. R. (2007). Intermediate microeconomics: A modern approach. W. W. Norton
         &Company.
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