Oral Capps

Oral “Jug” Capps, Jr. has over a long and distinguished career been at the forefront of research on consumer demand issues, applied econometrics, theoretical and practical approaches to the use of scanner data, food labeling, impacts of health and nutrition on consumer behavior, and evaluation of the effectiveness of commodity advertising and promotion programs. His research approach is a rigorous blend of theory-based econometric methodology and applications. Dr. Capps laid the foundation for the now ubiquitous data-intensive and theory-based food demand research approaches. His body of work has been highly cited, and has been professionally awarded for research, teaching, mentoring, graduate student supervision, private sector partnerships, and professional service. He has published ground-breaking work concerning uses of scanner-derived information for managerial decision-making in food retailing; the analysis of expenditure patterns of pre-prepared foods and foods eaten away from home; the analysis of the food demand impacts of health and nutrition information; the unilateral price effects of mergers and acquisitions; and the evaluation of generic commodity advertising and promotion programs. His moniker is “an academician with a corporate mentality.”

Currently Executive Professor, Regents Professor and holder of the Southwest Dairy Marketing Endowed Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University as well as Director of the Agribusiness, Food, and Consumer Economics Research Center (AFCERC), Dr. Capps was educated at Virginia Tech. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1975, a master's degree in agricultural economics in 1977, a second master's degree in statistics in 1979, and a PhD in agricultural economics in December 1979. He has authored/coauthored 170 refereed journal articles, 17 book chapters, 14 refereed proceedings, 13 agricultural station bulletins, and six books, along with 169 research reports/working papers. In July 2024, Dr. Capps was bestowed the title of fellow by the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.