International Development

Recognizing the economic interdependence between the U.S. and the rest of the world, Purdue offers an extensive research and teaching program on International Development.  Students may select from a variety of courses and thesis projects examining agricultural trade and economic growth, working with a large group of faculty specializing in international issues.  Students in this area often take additional courses in international finance and trade theory offered by the Department of Economics.

Purdue's program in international development offers global coverage.  Staff members have extensive overseas experience in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the former Soviet Union, and several faculty members have on-going research programs providing opportunities for overseas fieldwork. Topics addressed include market reforms, trade and domestic policies, technical change in production, and the role of natural resources and environmental factors in the development process.  Faculty and student activities have been funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies in the U.S. government, as well as the World Bank and the United Nations, among other international organizations.

The international development and policy specialty area is designed to prepare students for careers in government or in the private sector with consulting firms, banks, and private voluntary organizations.  In the U.S., the government agencies that most frequently hire students with this specialty are the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the International Economics Division of the Economic Research Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For a Master's degree in this area, students should complete AGEC 522 (intro math programming) and AGEC 650 (econometrics) for quantitative methods, and highly recommended electives are AGEC 644 (trade) as well as AGEC 643 (development) and AGEC 640 (policy).  Students following the Professionals M.S. program are encouraged to complement their work in development with additional course work in production, marketing, trade, or resources.  Students who plan to go on for a Ph.D. degree are encouraged to include more quantitative courses and more advanced economics theory in their M.S. plan of study.

 

Suggested Courses for the Master of Science Program:

• AGEC 50600 - Ag Marketing and Price Analysis
• AGEC 591I - Intl Food and Agribusiness Marketing
• AGEC 60400 - Fund of Applied Welfare Economics
• AGEC 61200 - Agricultural Production Economics I
• AGEC 61600 - Resource Economics and Policy
• AGEC 64000 - Agricultural Policy
• AGEC 64300 - Ag Economic Development
• AGEC 64400 - International Agricultural Trade
• ECON 52200 - Public Finance and Taxation
• ECON 52300 - State and Local Finance
• ECON 53500 - International Monetary Problems

Required for the International Development and Policy specialty area in the Ph.D. Program:

9 credits minimum

• AGEC 64000 - Agricultural Policy (3)
• AGEC 64300 - Ag Economic Development (3)

Plus courses from the following to reach a minimum of 9 credits:

• AGEC 60400 - Fund of Applied Welfare Economics (1)
• AGEC 60500 - Agricultural Price Analysis (3)
• AGEC 60800 - Benefit Cost Analysis (2)
• AGEC 61200 - Agricultural Production Economics I (3)
• AGEC 61600 - Resource Economics and Policy (3)
• AGEC 61800 - Applied General Equilibrium Analysis (3)
• AGEC 62100 - Advanced Agricultural Marketing (3)
• AGEC 63100 - Theory and Practice of Spatial Econometrics (3)
• AGEC 64400 - International Agricultural Trade (3)
• AGEC 65500 - Time Series Analysis (3) OR ECON 673 Time Series Econometrics (2)
• ECON 67400 - Microeconomics (2)