Evaluation of Agricultural Policies

lbrai2213  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Evaluation of Agricultural Policies
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
4 credits
30.0 h + 8.0 h
Q2
Teacher(s)
Van den Broeck Goedele;
Language
English
Prerequisites
Micro-economics (e.g., LBIR1242 Principes d'économie), introduction to econometrics (e.g., LECGE1316 or LINGE1221 Econométrie) and Microsoft Excel.

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.
Main themes
Economic models for policy analysis: Demand and supply models, Household models, Market and multi-market models, Trade models, Computable general equilibrium models. Most illustrations are drawn from recent agricultural and trade policy reforms.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 With respect to the learning outcomes of the Bio-engineering in agricultural sciences, this course contributes to the following main learning outcomes:
1.3 - 1.4: model selections
2.1 - 2.5: model specifications, techniques and programming
3.4 - 3.6: model design, simulation, interpretation and practices
4.4: model design and specifications
By the end of the course, students are able to:
-       know and understand common applied methods for policy analysis in both partial and general equilibrium settings,
-       design simple econometric and mathematical models to analyse economic policies under various hypothesis and scopes as well as recognise their limitations,
-       bridge their microeconomic theory to policy analysis,
-       be better prepared to assist policy decision makers.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
1.     Government interventions and their evaluation
2.     Demand analysis
3.     The profit function approach to supply and factor demand
4.     Supply response: expectations formation and partial adjustment
5.     Agricultural household models
6.     Price distortions: indicators and partial equilibrium analysis
7.     Multimarket models: principles and applications
8.     General equilibrium theory
9.     National account data and social accountancy matrix
     10. Design and use of computable general equilibrium models
Teaching methods
Teaching in class room and several applications in computer room.
Evaluation methods
Written examination, mainly syntheses and exercises.
Short class presentation on a specific modelling exercise.
Other information
Course taught in English with most material in English and some in French.
Online resources
Moodle
Bibliography
Slide shows and overheads available on Moodle. Some complementary textbook chapters and journal articles.
Recommended textbook:
Sadoulet Elisabeth and Alain de Janvry.  Quantitative Development Analysis, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1995.
Faculty or entity
AGRO


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Agriculture and Bio-industries

Master [120] in Agricultural Bioengineering