PhD Dissertation Titles

2023

  • Payments for Carbon Mitigation by Agriculture: Implications for Risk, Land Use, and Biomass Supply
  • The Monsanto-Bayer Acquisition Case Factors that Influence M&A premiums: A Teaching Case Study
  • Three Essays on the Economics and Environmental Impacts of Production Practices in Corn Belt Agriculture
  • Economic, Biophysical, and Behavioral Drivers for Robotic Weed Control
  • Three Essays on Water Quality Policy and Valuation

2022

  • Three Essays on Quantitative Analysis in Commodity Markets
  • Three Essays on Farm Policy and Agricultural Finance Essays on Heterogeneity in Outdoor Recreation Demand and Climate Change's Impact on Agriculture
  • Three Essays on Health Care Disparities n the U.S.
  • Three Essays on Agricultural Futures Market Liquidity: Exchange Rules, COVID-10, and Market Stress
  • Quantifying the Causal Effects of Climate Change on Land Use and Bird Biodiversity
  • Essays in Financial Markets and Institutions
  • Three Essays on Commodity Markets' Quality
  • Volatility and Risk Management in Agriculture Commodity Markets
  • Essays on Extreme Events in Agricultural Futures Markets.

2021

  • Three Essays on Public Finance
  • Social Norms, Markets, and Land Use in a Developing Country Context
  • Three Essays on the Effects of Health Policy on Health Care Financing, Demand, and Provision
  • Essays on Labor and Human Capital Investment in Development Economics
  • Three Essays on Rural Development
  • Three Essays on Energy Economics: Policy Options and Evaluation
  • Three Essays on Environmental Economics in Developing Countries
  • Drivers of Adoption and Impacts of Smallholder Climate-Resilient Agricultural Technologies
  • USDA Announcements and Changes in the Release Policy
  • Targeting and Serving the Poor: Three Essays on Development Economics

2020

  • Three Essays on Environmental Economics: Externalities and Policy Implications
  • Three Essays on Commodity Markets
  • Three Essays Evaluating Food and Nutrition Policies
  • Impacts of a Willingness to Pay for Conservation and Restoration in the U.S.
  • Three Essays on the Economics of Energy Efficiency and Conservation
  • Estimating Demand for Environmental Goods and Services: Now and Later
  • Three Essays on Machine Learning and Food Security

2019

  • Soil Fertility Management and Economic of Soybeans in Ghana
  • Rural Households and Shocks: Asset Transfer, Migration and Civil Conflict
  • Essays on Driving Factors of Migration: From Regional to Metro Perspectives
  • Three Essays on Agriculture, Environment and Human Capital Formation in India
  • Food Security in India
  • The Socioeconomics Impacts of the Superfund Program
  • Price Jumps and Volatility in U.S. Agricultural Futures Markets
  • Three Essays on the Relationship Between Land Conservation and Economic Diversity
  • Three Essays in Experimental and Behavioral Economics of Technology Adoption in India
  • The Role of Interstate Trade and Crop Insurance Programs on the U.S. Agriculture's Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change

2018

  • The Socioeconomic Consequences of the U.S. Fracking Boom
  • The Impact of Food Geography on Consumer and Producer Welfare
  • Essays on Production Chains and Disruptions: New Input-Output Perspectives on Time, Scale and Space
  • Three Essays in Applied Economics: An Evaluation of Brazilian Public Policies

2017

  • Impact of Coordinated Asset Transfers and Asset Ownership on Poverty Reduction, Women's Empowerment, and Child Education: Evidence from Zambia, and Tanzania
  • Essays on Early Childhood Development and Family Economics
  • Three Essays on the Economics of Water Management in Agriculture
  • Three Essays Investigating Post-Bubble Housing Market: Prices and Foreclosures
  • Three Essays Evaluating Public Policies:  Labor Markets, Education, and Measurement
  • Sustainable Infrastructure Technologies: Impact and Policy
  • Essays on Commodity Investing and Volatility Risk
  • Three Essays in Development Economics: Private Transfers, Farmers' Retirement, and Learning Failtures

2016

  • Market Entry and Exit in the Spatial Ethanol Industry
  • Essays on Persistent Management Skill
  • Labor Productivity, Remittance Use, and the Impact of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) Program in Nepal

2015

  • Factors Affecting Farm Productivity in Rural India: Social Networks and Market Access
  • Essays in the Economics of Public Housing Policy
  • The Welfare Cost and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Effects of Sector-Specific Energy Policies
  • The Role of Skilled Labor Pool in Driving Firms to Agglomerate: An Empirical Study on China's Policy Experiment 

2014

  • Testing Two Existing Fertilizer Recommendation Algorithms: Stanford's 1.2 Rule for Corn and Site-specific Nutrient Management for Irrigated Rice
  • Essays on Food Security
  • Essays in Water Resource Economics
  • Price Volatility and Liquidity Costs in Grain Futures Markets
  • Three Essays in Commodity Futures Markets

2013

  • Three Essays on Conservation: Policy Design, Risk Management and Impact Evaluation
  • Three Essays in Labor, Environmental, and Behavioral Economics
  • Using Choice Experiments to Value Preferences Over Stormwater Management
  • The Determinants of Agglomeration in Brazil: Input-Output, Labor and Knowledge externalities
  • Three Essays on Emission Credit Markets
  • Three Essays on Bubbles in Agricultural Futures Markets
  • Three Essays on Environmental and Regulatory Economics
  • Essays on Comodity Price Variability

2012

  • Three Essays in Lending
  • Three Essays in Applied Finance
  • NAFTA'S Distributional Effect on Mexico: Three Essays in Regional Economics
  • The Role of Agglomeration and Dispersion Forces on the Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity in Chile: An Empirical Analysis of Spatial Wage Distribution and Regional Housing Prices
  • Empirical Essays in Development Economics: Evidence from Bolivia
  • Essays on the Role of Markets and Institutions in Developing Economies
  • Three Essays on the Economics of Education
  • Essays on the Economics of Investment in Health
  • Measuring the Effects of Food Price Increases and Agricultural Commercialization on Poverty and Nutrition
  • Assessing Marketing and Aid Strategies to Stimulate Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • A Prospective Analysis of Brazilian Biofuel Economy: Land Use, Infrastructure Development and Fuel Pricing Policies

2011

  • Three Essays on Households' Location Decisions: Analysis of the Processes of Gentrification and Rural-Urban Migration
  • Three Essays on Agricultural Futures Traders
  • The Effectiveness of the Voluntary 33/50 Program in Inducing Adoption of Pollution Prevention Techniques and Toxic Release Reduciton
  • Three Essays on Investments in Children's Human Capital
  • Three Essays on Investments in Child Welfare in India
  • Properties of Natural Systems and the Efficiency of Market-Based Solutions to Environmental Externalities
  • Essays on the Spatial Dynamic Interaction of Individual Behavior, Institutions, and the Environment
  • Three Essays on Patronage Refunds and Capital Structure of Farm Credit System Associations
  • A Dynamic Analysis of U.S. Biofuels Policy Impact on Land Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Social Welfare
  • Rins and the Ethanol Supply Chain: An Alternative View
  • Three Essays on Conservation: Dynamic and Spatial Reserve Design and Values and Preferences for Econsystem Restoration
  • Three Empirical Analyses of Behavioral and Nutrition Policy Influences on Dietary Choices
  • Essays on the Spatial Dynamic Interaction of Individual Behavior, Institutions, and the Environment

2010

  • Bioproducts and Environmental Quality: Biofuels, Greenhouse Gasses, and Water Quality
  • The Impacts of Research on Philippine Rice Production
  • Welfare Effects of Biofuel Policies in the Presence of Environmental Externalities and Pre-Existing Distortions
  • Three Essays on Fisheries Economics
  • Market Orientation|Production Agriculture: Measurement, Relationships, and Implications
  • A Dynamic Analysis of U.S. Biofuels Policy Impact on Land Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Social Welfare
  • Market Work and Household Production in Brazil

2009

  • Improving the Accuracy of Outlook Price Forecasts:  An Application to Livestock Markets
  • Using Asset Poverty Measures to Understand Poverty Dynamics, Poverty Traps, and Farmer Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Focus on Rural Ethiopia
  • Defining and Measuring Entrepreneurship for Regional Research: A New Approach
  • Empirical Analysis of Farm Credit Risk under the Structure Model
  • Three Essays on Crop Insurance: RMA's Rules and Participation, and Perceptions
  • Intergenerational Caregiving between Parents and Their Adult Children: Evidence from a Study of Older Americans

2008

  • Trade and Welfare Effects of Japan's Revised Import Protocol for American Apples
  • Implied Transaction Costs in Agricultural Futures Markets
  • Do Transaction Costs and Risk Preferences Influence Marketing Arrangements in the Illinois Hog Industry?
  • Spatial Dimensions of Economic Valuation:  A Comparison of Hedonic Models
  • Essays on Futures Trading Under Non-Standard Assumptions
  • Assessing Comparative Advantage in Soybean Production:  A Global Perspective
  • The Effects of Certification Cobrand and Price on Consumers' Product Evaluations and Purchase Intentions
  • Ambient Air Pollution and the Allocation of Environmental Enforcement Effort
  • Economic Models of Recreational and Commercial Fishing and Their Impact on the Great Lakes Ecosystem
  • Ex-Ante Welfare Effects from Scale-Neutral Productivity Growth for Semi-Subsistence Orphan Crops:  Genetically Modified Cassava in Sub-Sahara Africa
  • The Regional Economic Effects of Commercial Passenger Air Service at Small Airports
  • Three Essays on Systemic Risk and Rating in Crop Insurance Markets
  • Spatial Econometric Analysis of Property Values: The Impact of Sports Facilities on Local Residential Property Values

2007

  • Modeling Farmers' Decision to Use Conservation Tillage and Genetically Modified Soybean Seed in a Joint Framework
  • Farmer Welfare and Agricultural Biotechnology
  • A Conjoint Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Product Attributes:  The Case of Illinois Apples
  • Evaluating the Economic Returns to Entrepreneurial Behavior
  • Three Essays on Commodity Risk Management
  • Are Agricultural Options Too Expensive?
  • Essays on the Economic Value of Environmental Cleanup
  • Farm Financing Strategy and the Lending Policy from Financial Institutions
  • Economic Modeling of Bioenergy Crop Production and Carbon Emission Reduction in Illinois

2006

  • Three Essays on Land Conservation Programs
  • Three Essays on Performance and Behavior of Agricultural Market Advisory Services in Corn and Soybeans
  • Welfare Impacts of Alternative Public Policies for Environmental Protection in Agriculture in an Open Economy:  A General Equilibrium Framework
  • Essays on Intellectual Property Protection and Innovation in Agriculture

2005

  • Irrigation Water Pricing:  Technology Adoption, Welfare, and Political Economy
  • Volatility and Price Information Contained in Selected Agricultural Futures Options
  • Urban and Suburban Farmers Markets in Illinois:  A Comparative Analysis of Consumer Segmentation Using Demographics, Preferences, and Behaviors
  • Modeling Farm-Level Impacts of Federal Income Tax Reforms:  A Stochastic Simulation Approach
  • The Profitability of Technical Trading Rules in US Futures Markets
  • Natural Resource Damage Policy:  Political Economy and Optimal Assessment Accuracy
  • Spatial Models of Animal Disease Control in South America:  The Case of Foot-and-Mouth Disease
  • Investigations in Land Use Modelling:  Comparing Analytical Techniques, Data Volumes, and Policy Scenarios in Sumatra
  • Designing Contiguous and Minimally Fragmented Nature Conservation Reserve Networks
  • Incentives and Institutions: A Comparative Legal and Economic Study of Food Safety