| Responsible Department | Institute of Food and Resource Economics | ||||||||||||||||
| Sub Courses | 290049 Agribusiness Economics I 290050 Agribusiness Economics II | ||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | Two blocks | ||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 15 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Continuous Assessment written examination and oral examination Written Exam in Lecturehall Some Aid allowed a) written final: no aid allowed; b) oral final: student's assignments, no other aid allowed; c) mid-term: all aids allowed Description of Examination: a) Written final exam in lecture hall (2 hrs): questions and exercises on theory and applications. b) Individual oral final examination based on students' assignments. c) Written mid-Term exam (2 hrs): questions and exercises on both theory and applications. d) Research paper: topic elected at beginning of course, presented at the end of the first block. e) Theoretical exercises during the first block, prepared and handed in individually Weight: a) written final exam: 25%; b) oral final exam: 25%; c) mid-Term Exam: 20%; d) research paper and presentation: 15%; e) theoretical exercises: 15% 7-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 28 January 2011, Block 1: 4 November 2010 Block 2: 28 January 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | a) Lectures by the instructor; b) Lectures and discussions with agri-business and farm organization executives; c) Case studies; d) Research paper; e) Industry visits; f) Theoretical exercises; g) Practical exercises | ||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: B Block 2 Week Structure: B | ||||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||||
| Mandatory Prerequisites | 290055 Micro Economics 290058 The Economics of Food Production 290068 Applied Econometrics Course 290068 is only relevant for the second part (taught in block 2); all courses can be replaced by an equivalent course | ||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||||
| Part I (first block): Industrial Organization (IO) Approach a) The Danish agri-food industry b) Organization of the agri-food industry: The IO approach c) Price determination and strategy d) Horizontal Organization e) Vertical organization f) Price discovery g) Competition policy h) Empirical industrial organization Part II (beginning of second block): 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 III (end of second block): 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) Lectures and discussions with industry experts; c) Visit agri-business organizations; d) Case studies; e) Writing of Research paper: The research paper is written in close collaboration with industry experts; f) Presentation in the form of a mini conference with assigned discussants and audience of experts; g) Theoretical exercises; h) Practical exercises | |||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| The main objective of the course is to provide the student with analytical tools and field knowledge: a) The necessary analytical tools for the study of the agri-food industry, e.g.\ using applied microeconomic production analysis. b) An understanding of the structure and organization of the agri-food industry and of futures contracts and futures markets. After completing the course the students should be able to: Knowledge: a) Know the main developments in modern industrial organization theory and the theory as it is applied to the agri-food industry b) Describe and analyse issues pertaining in the agri-food industry such as mergers, competition vertical integration, and innovation c) Describe and analyse industrial policies related to competition in the agri-food industry d) Describe what futures contracts are and how they work e) Describe the primal and dual approaches in microeconomic production theory, particularly production functions, cost minimization and cost functions, profit maximization and profit functions f) Describe approaches in econometric production analysis based on production functions, cost functions, and profit functions Skills a) Use modern industrial organization models with game theory applications to agri-food industry applications b) Trade futures contracts and calculate gains and losses c) Apply econometric production analysis using real data and interpret the results Competences: a) Identify, describe and analyse functions, structure and other issues in the agri-food industry in Denmark, Europe and internationally b) Apply modern industrial organization models and quantitative methods on problems and issues in the agri-food industry c) Use futures contracts to hedge against price risk d) Use econometric production analysis to analyse questions relevant for the agribusiness sector | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||||||
| a) Pepall, L; Richards, D; Norman, G (2008): Industrial Organisation: Contemporary Theory and Empirical Applications, 4th Edition, Wiley-Blackwell. b) Chambers, RG (1988): Applied Production Analysis - A Dual Approach, Cambridge University Press. c) 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 d) Journal articles e) Industry reports | |||||||||||||||||
| 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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