| Responsible Department | Institute of Food and Resource Economics | ||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination and oral examination Written Exam in Lecturehall Some Aid allowed no aid allowed in the written exam; students get their assignments in the oral exam, no other aid allowed Description of Examination: a) Written exam in lecture hall (2 hrs): questions and exercises on theory and applications. b) Individual oral examination based on students' assignments Weight: Written exam: 50%; oral exam: 50% 7-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 28 January 2011 | ||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | a) Lectures by the instructor; b) Theoretical exercises; c) Practical exercises | ||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 2 Week Structure: B | ||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||
| Mandatory Prerequisites | 290055 Micro Economics 290058 The Economics of Food Production 290068 Applied Econometrics All courses can be replaced by an equivalent course. | ||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||
| Part I: Markets for futures contracts a) price risks of agribusiness firms b) what is a futures contract? c) how do markets for futures work? d) practical exercise with historical data e) participation in a futures trading game with real-time data (during the entire block, see http://www.bvwtm.uni-kiel.de/en_index.html) Part II: Primal and Dual Approaches in Applied Production Economics a) repetition: basic/primal microeconomic production theory (technology set, production function, ...) b) econometric estimation of production functions, interpretation of estimation results, further analysis based on estimation results c) dual approaches in microeconomic production theory: cost minimization and cost function, profit maximization and profit function d) econometric estimation of cost functions and profit functions, interpretation of estimation results e) functional forms: Cobb-Douglas, Translog | |||||||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||||||
| a) Class lectures; b) Theoretical exercises; c) Practical exercises | |||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||
| The main objective of the course is to provide the students with relevant knowledge, practical skills, and competences in the fields of futures markets and applied microeconomic production analysis. After completing the course the students should be able to: Knowledge: a) Describe what futures contracts are and how they work b) Describe the primal and dual approaches in microeconomic production theory, particularly production functions, cost minimization and cost functions, profit maximization and profit functions c) Describe approaches in econometric production analysis based on production functions, cost functions, and profit functions Skills: a) Trade futures contracts and calculate gains and losses b) Apply econometric production analysis using real data and interpret the results Competences: a) Use futures contracts to hedge against price risk b) Use econometric production analysis to analyse questions relevant for the agribusiness sector | |||||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||||
| a) Chambers, RG (1988): Applied Production Analysis -- A Dual Approach, Cambridge University Press. b) CME Group (2008): Self-Study Guide to Hedging with Grain and Oilseed Futures and Options, http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/commodities/files/AC-216_HedgersGuideNewBoilerplate.pdf | |||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||
| Jens Leth Hougaard, jlh@foi.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/Production and Technology Unit, Phone: 353-36814 | |||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||||
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