March 2016 Issue 6

President's Column

March 2016
Spring is a busy time for most of us, but I hope to get you thinking about the 2016 AAEA Annual Meeting, which will take place in Boston July 31 to August 2, 2016! I made my airline reservations yesterday to get a good airfare.

We have lined up an incredible group of invited speakers, including Hilary Hoynes (UC Berkeley) for the Keynote Address, our own Jayson Lusk (Oklahoma State University) for the Presidential Address, Jo Swinnen (University of Leuven) for the Fellows Address, and Alain de Janvry (UC Berkeley) for the Galbraith Forum. In addition, Jeff Frankel (Harvard University) is the Speaker for the Applied Risk Analysis Luncheon. Frankel’s talk is entitled, “How Can Commodity-Exporting Countries Cope with Price Volatility?” I am especially excited about the International Lecture and Reception with Daron Acemoglu, (MIT), who will speak about, “Is Democracy an Obstacle to Economic Growth?” Finally, I want to feature the COSBAE, CWAE, and Extension Luncheon Speaker Ralph Christy (Cornell University) who will speak on, “Caught between a Discipline and a Profession: Agricultural Economics and the Well-being of Society.”

The pre- and post-conference workshops will also be outstanding.  The pre-conference workshop, “Big Data in Applied Economics: Knowledge and Applications,” is garnering attention, as agricultural and applied economists are positioned to become leaders in this new era of data scientists.  The experimental economics workshop will be useful for seasoned professionals who want to gain new skills and for early career professionals who are building their skill sets.  Finally, the BEER Section’s brewery tour will include three Boston-based breweries. The breweries will range in size, offerings, and distribution. This tour will provide a look into the craft brewing industry in Boston with discussions at each stop on the economics of beer and brewing. The tour will be private, ensuring that the discussion at each location is pertinent to the section and the interests of the conference attendees. 
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AAEA Trust Member Profile:

Sylvan Herskowitz
University of California – Berkeley

You won the 2015 Luther G. Tweeten Student Scholarship for your research proposal: The Causes and Consequences of Sports Betting in Uganda, East Africa, what prompted you to pursue this topic and how is your research progressing?
I first became interested in sports betting while working in Monrovia, Liberia. It was impossible to walk more than a block without seeing groups of young men discussing and debating different European football matches and placing bets with international betting companies. It was immediately clear that both the pervasiveness and intensity of sports betting throughout Liberia were huge. Sports betting occupies a large portion of these men’s weekly expenditures and I was interested to develop a better understanding of the underlying reasons for such heavy participation as well as the impact betting has on their lives. There is a very similar form of sports betting in Uganda (as well as many other countries throughout the world). Following the outbreak of Ebola and before its resolution was known, I decided to explore the possibility of conducting a study on sports betting in Kampala, Uganda. The AAEA scholarship helped me to conduct an initial pilot in Kampala and, in turn, to secure additional funding for a larger version of the project.
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Call for Applications:
Editor of Choices Magazine
The AAEA Board is seeking applications for two (2) editors of Choices magazine to help further the strategic goals of the publication as a resource for readers interested in the policy and management of agriculture, the food industry, natural resources, rural communities, and the environment. Choices magazine currently reaches over 2700 non-member subscribers, but there is room to grow
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Call for Applications:
Managing Editor of the Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy
The AAEA Executive Board invites applications for one Managing Editor for Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy (AEPP). The degree to which candidate’s expertise complements that of the continuing editors, will be considered in the selection process. AAEA is particularly interested in candidates who will bring ideas and innovations for helping AEPP to further its mission. Information about AEPP, its policies and mission is available at www.aaea.org/publications/aepp.
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Call for Applications:
Editorship of the Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy
The AAEA Executive Board invites applications for one editor for Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy (AEPP) to serve from 2017 through 2019. This call for applications is for an editor to manage Submitted Articles which contain original research results addressing real-world problems with sound research approaches and/or have strong policy relevance within the subject matter of the journal. The degree to which candidate’s expertise complements that of the continuing editors, will be considered in the selection process. AAEA is particularly interested in candidates who will bring ideas and innovations for helping AEPP to further its mission.
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Renew Your AAEA Membership for 2016You can now renew your AAEA membership for 2016 on the AAEA website. Simply log in to the “My Account” section to renew. Completing your renewal online saves you time by filling out most of the information for you automatically.

The benefits of your AAEA membership only last through the spring of 2016, so be sure to renew soon to ensure that you keep receiving services from AAEA throughout the upcoming year.

Call for Submissions
2017 ASSA Annual Meeting
President-Elect Jayson Lusk is soliciting proposals and suggestions for AAEA invited paper sessions at the 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, January, 6-8, 2017. Preference will be given to those proposals that add to knowledge on public issues of national and international importance or expand capabilities and tools for economic research.
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Obituary

Donald Gregory Stitts
May 30, 1930 - June 2, 2015

Donald Gregory Stitts, 85, of Mansfield Center, CT, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family on June 2, 2015. He was born May 30, 1930, in Washington, D.C. to parents Ruth (Sexton) and Thomas Stitts, of Hastings, MN. Don graduated from the University of Maine, Orono in 1952, served in the United States Army during the Korean Conflict, worked for H.P. Hood, Ice Cream Division and for Marigold Dairy in Rochester, MN as an Ice Cream Production Manager. In 1962 he returned to school to the University of Minnesota where he earned an M.S. and a PhD in Agricultural Economics. In 1967 he joined the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) as an Assistant Professor. He served as President of the Northeast Agricultural Economics Society, spent over a year as an extension Public Policy Specialist in the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. He retired in 1992 as Professor Emeritus.
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Other News

5th AAAE Conference
The African Association of Agricultural Economists invites you to participate during its 5th International Conference in Addis Ababa. The theme of the conference is “Transforming smallholder agriculture in Africa: The role of policy and governance.” The meeting will take place at the United Nations Conference Centre - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from September 23-26, 2016.
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2016-2 GTAP 101 Course
“Introduction to Computable General Equilibrium Modeling”
The objective of the GTAP 101 course is to engage participants in an active, team-based process of learning about the GTAP computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and its use in applied economic policy analysis. The curriculum emphasizes an intuitive and graphical treatment of economic theory in the CGE model, and provides structured experiences in manipulating and running the standard GTAP Model within the RunGTAP software environment. RunGTAP is an intuitive, menu-driven CGE model that minimizes technological hurdles and allows students to quickly begin to focus on their economic thinking and experimentation. The curriculum is geared to advanced undergraduates, graduates and professionals. At the end of the course, participants will be entry-level modelers and more informed consumers of CGE-based analyses. The course also serves as an entry point for developing the technical skills required for the GTAP Short Course.
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