March 2007

Calendar of Events:

Congratulations and Names in the News:

Paul Preckel has been named faculty director for the State Utility Forecasting Group, a research and technical analysis center based at the university. The center is affiliated with Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering , Department of Agricultural Economics and the Energy Center in Discovery Park . Preckel began serving as faculty director on Feb. 1.

The State Utility Forecasting Group is a team of professionals supported by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. For more than two decades the group has resided at Purdue, first in the Department of Agricultural Economics, then in the Institute of Interdisciplinary Engineering and most recently in the College of Engineering 's School of Industrial Engineering . While the group's strong association with industrial engineering and agricultural economics will continue, it also will expand further into campus using its affiliation with the Energy Center . The group's primary purpose is to provide a biennial forecast report of the state's anticipated electricity use, prices and resource needs.

Other future projects for the group include:

*  Researching renewable energy sources.

*  Investigating how events, such as prolonged high natural gas prices, affect the use of electricity and natural gas.

*  Examining the impact of regional factors on Indiana 's energy markets, such as the amount of energy generating capacity in the region.

"In other states, this type of forecast information is provided by the state's utilities regulatory oversight institution or by the utilities themselves," said Nagabhushana Prabhu, the James J. Solberg Head of Industrial Engineering. "But the utility forecasting group has been housed at Purdue for more than two decades, and with the collaborative effort among industrial engineering, the Energy Center and others we can continue to provide our state with the necessary information it needs concerning the forecast of electricity demand and prices."

March 2: 2007 Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Luncheon and Presentation with Dr. Bruce Scherr. Bruce A. Scherr, President and Chief Executive Officer.   Dr. Scherr has been with Informa Economics, Inc. (formerly Sparks Companies, Inc.) since 1987 and has worked extensively with companies to develop improved price risk management procedures, to organize and manage purchasing and merchandising programs, and to assist agribusinesses and public sector institutions in strategic and tactical planning. Formerly he was president of Sparks, Jacobs, Scherr, Inc. (SJS), a sister company to Sparks, and president of Agri-Commodities, Inc., an agriculture consulting firm based in Andover, Massachusetts, which was acquired by SJS. Prior to forming Agri-Commodities, Dr. Scherr was a divisional vice president at Data Resources, Inc., where he developed and utilized for the public and private sectors the first commercially available econometric model for US agriculture. Dr. Scherr received his bachelor's degree from Rutgers University and his master's and doctorate degrees from Purdue University , all in agricultural economics. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) and serves as a member of the Global Strategy Institute Advisory Council of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as a member of the Board of Directors for Desert STAR Inc., an electrical transmission Independent System Operator for the Desert Southwest from January 2000 through February 2002. In addition, Dr. Scherr has served as a member of The University of Tennessee's (UT) Institute of Agriculture Agricultural Development Board and UT's Committee for the Future. He is a member of several honorary research and agricultural societies, a member of the National FFA Foundation Sponsors' Board 2000 through 2001 and a former advisor to the President's Council of Economic Advisers and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Scherr earned his MS in 1972 and his PhD in 1974 in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University .

Brigitte Waldorf was appointed to the Editorial Board of the new journal Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences .  The new journal, published by Springer, will be edited by Henk Folmer. Luc Anselin, Roberta Capella, and Yoshiro Higano.”

Thought you Would Like to Know:

The Indiana Council is promoting a new curriculum, Focus:  Globalization, designed to educate high school students on the importance of the global economy.  Teacher workshops on this and other topics can be found at www.econed-in.org

Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society of Agriculture will welcome new members on March 29 th . They are: David Perkis,

Vanessa Daniel, Visiting Research Scholar from France , studying at Vrije Universitat, Amsterdam , here working with Raymond Florax in joint research regarding the economic value of spatial risks.

Paul Roales, MS student, is running for a seat in the West Lafayette City Council.

Wally Tyner, Chris Hurt and Otto Doering are receiving support from the Bottom Kohlmeyer fund for expanded public policy education on biofuels. Otto will be giving biofuels extension programs in March in Jay, Monroe and Kosciusco counties.

News from the Center for Global Trade Analysis:

This summer, the Center for Global Trade Analysis will hold three important events here on campus: the GTAP Advisory Board Meeting, the Tenth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, and the Fifteenth Annual Short Course in Global Trade Analysis.

GTAP Advisory Board Meeting

The annual GTAP Advisory Board Meeting will be held in the Dauch Alumni Center from June 4-5, 2007. The purpose of this meeting of GTAP Consortium members is to advise the Center on matters of policy, research agenda, and funding.

More information on the Advisory Board Meeting can be found on the GTAP website at: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/events/Board_Meetings/default.asp .

Tenth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis

The Tenth Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis will be held in the Stewart Center from June 7-9, 2007. The goal of the conference is to promote the exchange of ideas among economists conducting quantitative analysis of global economic issues. Particular emphasis will be placed on applied general equilibrium methods, data, and application.

Travel, Speeches and Presented Papers:

Abay Mulatu, Raymond J.G.M. Florax and Cees A. Withagen, Optimal environmental policy differentials in open economies under emission constraints, Journal of Economics 90 , 2007.

Dimaranan, Betina V., Editor (2006). Global Trade, Assistance, and Production: The GTAP 6 Data Base , Center for Global Trade Analysis, Purdue University .

Valerien O. Pede, Raymond J.G.M. Florax and Henri L.F. de Groot, Technological leadership, human capital and economic growth: a spatial econometric analysis for U.S. counties, 1969–2003, Annals of Economics and Statistics 82 , 2007.

Publications:

Waldorf, B. 2007. “Measuring Rurality.” INContext . January 2007: pp. 5-8.  http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/

John M. Connor and C. Gustav Helmers, “Statistics on Modern Private International Cartels, 1990-2005” The American Antitrust Institute, AAI Working Paper No. 07-01.

John M. Connor, “The Great Global Vitamins Conspiracy: Sanctions and Deterrence” Concurrences, No. 4-2006.

Yuliya Bolotova, John M. Connor, and Douglas J. Miller, “Factors Influencing the Magnitude of Cartel Overcharges: An Empirical Analysis of Food-Industry Cartels” Agribusiness, Vol. 23 (1) 17-33 (2007), Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ).

Betina Dimaranan, Elena Ianchovichina, and Will Martin, 2007. “Competing with Giants – Who Wins, Who Loses?” Chapter 3 in Dancing with Giants: China , India and the Global Economy , L. Alan Winters and Shahid Yusuf (Editors). A copublication of The World Bank and The Institute of Policy Studies. (released January 2007)

Betina Dimaranan, Thomas Hertel, and Will Martin, 2006. “Potential Gains from Post-Uruguay Round Trade Policy Reform: Impacts on Developing Countries,” Chapter 6 in Reforming Agricultural Trade for Developing Countries: Quantifying the Impacts of Multilateral Trade Reform (Vol. 2), Alex McCalla and John Nash (Editors). Washington , D.C. : The World Bank. (released November 2006)

Job Announcements:

Pacific Norwest National Laboratory: Economist positions

Rutgers : Food Policy Research – Assoc or Full Prof

Kansas Farm Management Association: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/operations/jobs/FarmMgmtNW.htm

IIASA: http://academic.cahe.wsu.edu/employers.html

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City – PhD level economist

University of Florida : Food and Resource Economics Department

Mississippi State University : Assist/Assoc Prof Natural Resource/Environmental Economics/Ag Policy

Virginia Tech: International Trade Position

Purdue Extension Service: www.ces.purdue.edu/careers/

Career and Job Sites on the Internet:

Keeping Track Monthly Newsletter Archive

November 24, 2009

Introducing a Special Issue of Agricultural Economics on the World Food Crisis of 2007-08

Now accepting applications for Natural Resources Leadership Development Institute

Considering becoming an Agricultural Economics student? Please visit our Future Student pages.

USDA National Needs Fellowships In The Economics Of Alternative Energy are available. For more information, download the pdf.