International Lecture and Reception Announcement

Dear AAEA Colleagues,

The International Section is extremely pleased to announce Daron Acemoglu, PhD will be our featured International Speaker at the 2016 AAEA Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.  Dr. Acemoglu is an Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His many publications are widely acclaimed for their contributions to understanding economic development and growth, the success or failure of nation states, and the transition to new technologies, and to advancing the field of network economics. His 2012 book, “Why Nations Fail” (with James Robinson), is decidedly relevant and important in today’s world of stark divisions between the rich and the poor.  It’s described by the Wall Street Journal as “a splendid piece of scholarship” and by the Washington Post as “a surprisingly captivating read.”  Professor Acemoglu won the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, and he is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among many professional honors he has received.

We invite everyone attending the 2016 AAEA Annual Meeting to join us for Dr. Acemoglu’s lecture and the reception to follow.  This year we introduce a new format for the International Speaker events, designed for greater affordability and accessibility, and to provide a welcoming venue where graduate students, new professionals, senior members, and others may mingle, partake of refreshments (including a cash bar that will open before the talk begins), share thoughts about the talk, and expand professional and social networks.     

The lecture and reception will take place Monday evening, August 1, 2016.  Stay tuned for time and place.  We look forward to seeing you! 

Chris Barrett, Gopi Munisamy, Melinda Smale, and Nicole Ballenger

International Section Executive Committee

International Section Track Session: Economics of Food Losses and Waste: What are the right questions?

The International Section track sessions and is scheduled for Monday, July 27, 2015 from 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM in Sierra I. Come to hear presentations by Steve Sonka on “Reducing Postharvest Loss: Are We Asking the Right Questions?”, Harry de Gorter on “Economics of Food Losses and Waste: Concepts and Practical Implications,” David Just on “The Role of “Nudge” Type Polices in Reducing Food Waste: A Behavioral Economics Approach,” and discussions by Tom Johnson and Nadia Streletskaya. Waste and loss have been widely discussed but not deeply analyzed. This session will provide an opportunity to explore these issues more extensively and stimulate ideas for further research.

International Section: Announcement of Track Sessions

The AAEA International Section, the largest of the Association’s sections, will sponsor 10 distinct sessions at the 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting in San Francisco. We are grateful to our co-sponsor Sections and Committees for making it possible to put together the largest track session offering in our Section’s history, despite the triennial international conference two weeks later in Italy. Come join us and hear the exciting research being presented by a wide range of scholars.

The track sessions include sessions on (organizers and their affiliations in parentheses):

1) “Making agricultural research matter to women farmers” (Corrine Valdivia, Missouri), co-sponsored with the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (CWAE).

2) “Food Security in an Imperfect World: Method, Causes and Remedies” (Ashok Mishra, LSU), co-sponsored with the Applied Risk Analysis section.

3) “Reexamining Agricultural Commercialization in the Developing World: The Cash versus Food Production Tradeoff” (Ben Wood, 3ie), co-sponsored with the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).

4) “Guiding Investments in Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa” (Melinda Smale, Michigan State), co-sponsored with the Committee on the Opportunity and Status of Blacks in Agricultural Economics (COSBAE).

5) “Economics of Food Losses and Waste: What are the right questions?” (Willi Meyers, Missouri), co-sponsored with the Agribusiness Economics and Management section.

6) “Emerging Development Issues in Rural China: Land titling, agricultural subsidy, distance education and non-farm employment” (Songqing Jin, Michigan State), co-sponsored with the China section.

7) “Agriculture in Africa: Telling Facts from Myths” (Luc Christiaensen, World Bank), co-sponsored with the China section.

8) “The Role of the Developing and Emerging Countries in Shaping the Future of the Global Trade System” (Tim Josling, Stanford), co-sponsored with the Senior section.

9) “Soil Tests & Smallholder Farmers: How potent a productive input is soil fertility information?” (Travis Lybbert, UC-Davis).

10) “Ebola: Predicting it, Addressing it, and Food Security Impacts” (George Norton, Virginia Tech).

The Section is also sponsoring a pre-conference, Saturday, July 25, on “Rapid AgriFood System Transformation, Globalization, and International Development”, organized by Tom Reardon (Michigan State), Bart Minten (IFPRI), David Zilberman (UC-Berkeley) and Jo Swinnen (KU Leuven). The preconference will take stock of the emerging literature on food system transformation in developing countries, partly in response to globalization and urbanization over the past 20 years.

Please come join us, contribute to what promise to be stimulating discussions, hear cutting-edge research presentations, renew old acquaintances and make new friends.

1) Gopi Munisamy and Chris Barrett, International Section Chair and Chair-Elect