Call for Proposals: Case Studies

The deadline for Case Study Proposals has passed. Check the AAEA website for 2018 Calls in November 2017.

AAEA welcomes proposals for Case Studies for the 2017 AAEA Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Cases in this Invited Paper session may be published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics in January 2018, subject to review. Proposals from individuals or groups need to be submitted using AAEA’s online submission system by Thursday, December 1, 2016. The system will open in early November.

Proposals are requested for case studies that show how the application of economic principles to decision making in the public and/or private sectors leads to better decisions. Any topic area that illustrates the application of economic principles is acceptable. Topic areas focusing on emerging issues such as: renewable ingredients, energy economics, food safety, and company environmental policies (e.g., green scorecard) are encouraged.

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Deals with a problem that has a high level of importance/interest/relevancy to members of AAEA;
• Clear and concise teaching objective(s) and target audience(s) (e.g. undergraduate students, graduate students, extension audiences);
• Case summary that presents solutions and explanations of how the learning objectives are realized;
• Leads to a better understanding of how the application of economic principles improves decision making;
• A general description of the teaching plan for presenting the case to include expected student use of reference materials. 

Proposals should include case title, names and contact information of the authors, and a case outline that covers the company or situation profiled, as well as a detailed outline for the case study. The outline should be 3–5 pages in length and a maximum of 2,000 words. The proposal must also contain an outline and ideas for a teaching note, although the teaching note will not be published with the case.  Of the cases submitted, three winning case submissions will be accepted for presentation at the AAEA meetings by March, 2017.

Selected case studies (with teaching note when applicable) should be completed by Thursday, April 13, 2017. These completed versions will be reviewed by the invited case study committee, and feedback to improve the cases will be provided to the author(s). Final versions of the cases must be submitted to AAEA by Wednesday, May 24, 2017. If the authors wish the case study to be reviewed for publication in the AJAE, it should also be submitted to the AJAE Editors via Editorial Express by Wednesday, May 24, 2017.  Accepted papers will carry a footnote that indicates they were subject to an expedited review process.

Examples of appropriate cases can be found in the agricultural and applied economics literature including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (issues 94 (2) and 93 (2)), International Food and Agribusiness Management Review and the Journal of the Food Distribution Research Society. There are many ways to write a case. One set of guidelines for decision cases can be found at: https://www.ifama.org/resources/Documents/Case%20Writing%20Essentials.pdf.

If you have any questions about submitting a Case Study proposal, please contact Lauren Seward at lseward@aaea.org or at (414) 918-3190.