Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Holt joined the Department in January 2006. His research and teaching interests focus on a set of wide-ranging topics and issues relating to markets for food and agricultural products. These include the role of risk and price expectations in agricultural production and supply; the effects of government programs on agricultural production decisions; the role of population dynamics and nonlinear dynamics in livestock production, supply, and pricing; the use of demand systems for economic welfare loss assessments; the role of futures markets in static and dynamic risk management strategies; and the role of risk in testing for market efficiency in the context of futures markets for agricultural products.

His current research agenda includes an economic history of the hog-corn cycle in the United States; examining the implications of mid-term climate anomalies such as El Niño for forecasting primary commodity prices; documenting the seasonal rate of change in global surface temperatures over the past 400 years; and the role of transactions costs in price adjustments in North American wood and forest products markets. Throughout his career the hallmark of Dr. Holt’s research has been the adaptation and application of cutting-edge econometric methods in the investigation of economic relationships.

Dr. Holt has previously been on the editorial board of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the Review of Agricultural Economics, and the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. He has also been the recipient of several awards for his published research from the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) and the Western Agricultural Economics Association including the Quality of Research Discovery Award (AAEA, 1999) and the Publication of Enduring Quality Award (AAEA, 2002). In 2004 and 2006 he was a visiting Professor in the Department of Economic Statistics at the Stockholm School of Economics. He currently serves as an Executive Board member for the American Agricultural Economics Association. Most recently, in February, 2006 he was named as a Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research.