Learning objectives
The course aims to achieve the following objectives.
to. Knowledge and understanding: The course aims to provide the main instruments for analysing and understanding the fundamentals of agricultural markets.
b. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. Students will develop the ability to analyse and understand the trends of agricultural markets’ fundamentals, hence to read and interpret abovementioned trends. The course aims to introduce students to the analysis of agricultural markets and its diverse facets, understand their structure, dynamics and their social-, policy- and economic-related implications.
c. Autonomy of judgment. Students will develop the basis for critically analyse the agro-food markets’ dynamics, its actors, and existing relationships between them, besides the relevance of agricultural policies, in order to deeply and consciously evaluate the given market and to identify specific areas of interest for which the student may want to deepen her understanding.
is. Ability to learn. The study method provided mainly includes lectures / video lessons, in which fundamentals of the agri-food economy are discussed. The exam consists in the drafting of a technical report on a market freely chosen by student(s), and can be done individually or as work-in-group. This is to foster moments of discussion and comparison between the members of the group, the division of work and apply the knowledge offered by the course.
Moreover, the final exam could consist in a written practical exercise.
Prerequisites
Micro&Macroeconomics
Course unit content
The course’ contents concern the application of economics to the agricultural sector, defining ‘agricultural economics’, how economic principles apply to this particular sector, hence what are the scopes of the economic analysis of the agricultural sector. The course aims to provide the student with an introductory framework to the main concepts related to agricultural economics, though the law of supply and demand of agricultural products, imperfect agricultural markets, transactions between different agents of the agricultural market, their forms of organization and integration, and the role of agricultural policies. All in all, to describe in a general and broad sense the role of the ‘agricultural economist’ in the current economic scenario. The aims of the course are: i) to provide students with theoretical elements intended to deepen their understanding of the agricultural market and its distinctive characteristics, providing introductory elements for the analysis of the various aspects of the agricultural sector; ii) to understand the fundamentals of agricultural markets, from market equilibrium to the forms of organization of economic agents; iii) to introduce the student to the analysis of agricultural markets, defining the various research areas, from micro to macro, that the agricultural economist undertakes; finally iv) to improve the student's ability to read and interpret technical-economic analyses.
Full programme
The topics covered in the course concern the following aspects:
- Introduction - Agri-food economics: Main characteristics (Micro and Macro) (Notes);
- Supply and Demand and Balance of the Agri-food Market;
- Imperfect Markets;
- Prices and Margins (Notes);
- Forms of Integration and Structure of Agricultural Markets (Notes);
- Agricultural Policies (Notes);
- Conclusion: the Agricultural Economist and her role in the current economy.
Bibliography
Selected readings as scientific articles, technical reports from international organizations (FAO, OECD and others), book chapters in English and web material.
Saccomandi V. 1999. Economia dei mercati agricoli. Il Mulino.
Messori F. 1992. Economia del mercato dei prodotti agro-alimentari. Corsi Universitari, EDAGRICOLE.
Penson J. B., Capps O., Rosson C. P., Woodward R. T. 2018. Introduction to agricultural economics. 7th Edition. Pearson.
Teaching methods
Live Lectures / Recorded Lessons;
Reading, analysing and understanding academic and technical works;
Work-in-group.
Assessment methods and criteria
- Individual / group practical test. The student (s) will have to face a real case of description and analysis of one or more agri-food markets, providing an analytical comment to the material provided by the Professor. The material will consist in academica and technical works on a specific topic or market, on which the student(s) will have to characterise one or more aspects, such as demand and supply, market structure, actors and their relationships, and policies. Furthermore, material-specific reasoning questions will be proposed by the Professor, mainly related to the economic fundamentals the material relies upon.
The report must have a maximum length of 10 pages, Times New Roman 12 font, line spacing 1.5.
- Honors are awarded to those students who fully comply with the requirements. Furthermore, they must demonstrate a systematic knowledge of the subject, an excellent ability to apply the acquired knowledge, independent judgment and particular attention in the formal drafting of the document, besides demonstrating to having acquired satisfactory knowledge of economic fundamentals presented during the course.
The analytical comment will be delivered by e-mail at least 10 days before the appeal. Students will be allowed to send drafts of their comment to receive suggestions from the teacher before the 10-days deadline.
- The final grade, communicated after the written test directly in Esse3, will correspond to the evaluation of the report in terms of completeness, clarity, economic reasoning, and depth of analysis, quality and breadth of conclusions, ability to explain the economics behind the material supplied.
Concerning the written practical exercise, the exam will consist in applied economic exercises. The exam, depending on the internal dispositions, can be delivered in presence and/or on-line.
For each exercise, a score will be assigned and communicated to the student.
Other information
The activities will take place on-line through the use of the Teams and Elly platforms. Furthermore, lessons will be recorded. Thus, lessons can be held in both on-line and recorderd modes (Teams/uploaded on the Elly page of the course).
In case of live lessons, the professor’s presentation will alternate interactive moments with the students. To promote active participation in the course, various individual and small group activities will be proposed, through the use of the resources available in Elly, such as discussion forums and logbooks.
