Graduate Programs

The Department offers both MS and PhD degrees from one of the nation’s premier graduate programs in agricultural and resource economics.  Both programs focus on the application of advanced microeconomic theory and econometrics to issues in agricultural economics, environmental and resource economics, and development economics.  Courses are taught by leading researchers in those fields, who combine rigorous scholarship with extensive policy experience.

The Department’s faculty includes internationally prominent scholars in agricultural, environmental and resource, and development economics.  In recognition of their research, Department faculty members have received such international awards as Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Prize, the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark Medal, and the American Agricultural Economics Association’s Quality of Research Discovery and Publication of Enduring Quality Awards, among others.  Several have been elected fellows of such professional associations as the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Econometric Society, and the American Statistical Association.  Department faculty members have served as presidents of the American Agricultural Economics Association and Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and as editors/associate editors of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and Environment and Development Economics, among others.

The policy experience of the Department’s faculty equals its scholarship in both quality and extent.  One faculty member served as an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.  Five have served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.  Other policy experience includes service as consultants to agencies and organizations like the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank.  The University’s location in Washington, DC area provides numerous opportunities for interaction with policy at the international, federal, and state levels due to convenient access to the World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute, Resources for the Future, International Monetary Fund, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development, Food and Drug Administration, Inter-American Development Bank, Census Bureau, and a host of other such institutions and organizations.

Questions about the Department’s graduate programs should be directed to Barbara Burdick at bburdick@arec.umd.edu or 301-405-1291.