The T.W. Schultz Prize for the Best Contributed Paper (for authors under 40 years) goes to Phuong Dung Le (Wageningen University, Netherlands, and CIAT, Vietnam) for her paper titled “Climate Adaptation and Human Security in the Mekong Delta: Planting Date Impacts on Rice Production and Water Security” (co-authored by Bradford Mills and Francisco Alpizar).

The Uma Lele Prize for the Best Contributed Paper on Gender goes to Kajal Gulati (Purdue University, USA), Travis Lybbert (UC Davis, USA), and Koustuv Saha (Purdue University, USA) for their paper titled “Women’s Work and Agricultural Productivity Gaps in India”.

The Nils Westermarck Prize for Best Contributed Poster (for authors under 40 years) goes to Jeanne de Montalembert (Université Paris Dauphine, France) for her poster titled “The Health Cost of Conservation: Impact of Protected Areas on Child Anemia”.

IAAE congratulates the prize winners, who will all present their research at ICAE 2024 in the Closing Plenary Session on 7 August 2024 in New Delhi, India. We look forward to their exciting talks. The new IAAE Honorary Life Members will also be recognized during the Closing Plenary Session. Do not miss this Closing Plenary Session at ICAE 2024, which will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the stars and rising stars of our profession.

IAAE also thanks the members if the international prize juries for their work and contribution to the profession: Meike Wollni, Sonia Akter, and William Masters (T.W. Schultz Prize). Liesbeth Colen, Cheryl Doss, Kibrom Abay, Hema Swaminathan, and Claudia Ringler (Uma Lele Prize). Martin Parlasca, Purnima Menon, and Hope Michelson (Nils Westermarck Prize).

Every three years, IAAE is awarding the Carl. K. Eicher Award for the best agricultural economics dissertation on topics related to African development. The winner of the Carl K. Eicher Award 2024 is Dr. Onasis Tharcisse Adetumi Guedegbe, who was nominated for his dissertation titled “Effects of Shocks on Economic Development and Roles of Resilience Factors”. A Benin national, Tharcisse Guedegbe completed his PhD in Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University in 2022/23. A number of dissertations had been nominated for the Eicher-Award; Dr. Guedegbe’s work was selected as the best by the international jury led by Dr. Tahirou Abdoulaye. IAAE thanks the jury for their work and congratulates Dr. Tharcisse Guedegbe for winning this prestigious Award.

Dr. Tharcisse Guedegbe will receive the Carl K. Eicher Award at ICAE 2024, where he will also present a summary of his dissertation research in the closing plenary session. In the same session, also the winners of three other IAAE Prizes will be recognized and present their work, namely the T.W. Schultz Prize for the Best Contributed Paper, the Uma Lele Prize for the Best Contributed Paper on Gender, and the Nils Westermarck Prize for the Best Conference Poster. The competitive selection process for these other prizes is ongoing. The closing plenary session at ICAE 2024 will be a wonderful opportunity to experience and celebrate the top young scholars of our profession.

“Looking Under the Surface: An Analysis of Iceberg Orders in the U.S. Agricultural Futures Markets.“ Agricultural Economics. 2021: 52 679– 699.

By Quanbiao Shang, Teresa Serra, Philip Garcia, and Mindy Mallory.

The selection committee for the Schultz Award for the best contributed paper has named Michael Keenan as the winner of this year’s award. His paper on “Rethinking the Link between Production Diversity and Dietary Diversity: Theory and Evidence” demonstrates the nuance of the link between production diversity and household nutrition. The paper develops a non-separable agricultural household model with multiple agricultural goods for consumption and/or production, production risk, and imperfect markets. The results are tested econometrically using nationally representative data from Tanzania. The paper finds that while, on average, a household needs to grow 10 additional food groups to consume just one more food group, households in the most remote areas need to grow just two more food groups to consume one more. The paper also contributes to the theoretical literature surrounding non-separable household models by providing a framework for understanding the role of markets and the risk for household dietary diversity.  It helps explain why most studies only find a small link between production diversity and dietary diversity.

Uma Lele Best Research on Gender Award (established in 2009)

The selection committee for the Uma Lele Prize for Best Contributed Paper on Gender selected the paper “Investment Decisions and Gender in Agricultural Households: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment in Rural Tanzania” as the winner. The paper analyzes male, female, and joint decision-making in investments and labor while performing a real-effort task in a lab-in-the-field experiment. The paper is well-grounded in experimental and intrahousehold bargaining literature, with suggestive results of how joint decision-making and women’s participation in gender sensitization training affects risk-taking and effort. The results have implications for investment in new agricultural practices and technology adoption.

In addition to Michael Keenan (the Schultz Award winner noted previously), authors are Haki Pamuk, Stanley Karanja, and Joseph Hella.

Carl K. Eicher Award for best doctoral dissertation on a topic related to African development (first awarded in 2015)

The Carl K. Eicher Award was established to recognize the best doctoral dissertation relating to agricultural economics applied to an African problem. The committee selected Nouhoum Traoré for the prize this year, with Honorable Mention for Florence Lwiza.

IAAE AWARDS 2021

Guidelines for Contributed Papers and Organized Symposia are available here.

While submitting the Contributed Paper, authors would be prompted to indicate if they would like to be considered for the IAAE awards under the category of T W Schultz Prize for Best Oral Contributed Paper, Nils Westermarck Prize for Best Poster, Uma Lele Prize for Best Contributed Paper on Gender.

DETAILS AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

T W SCHULTZ PRIZE FOR BEST ORAL CONTRIBUTED PAPER

This prize is named after Theodore W. Schultz, an agricultural economist who made outstanding contributions to IAAE. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1991 for his significant contributions to the economics of rural and agricultural development and the theory of human capital,

This prize is awarded for the best oral contributed paper presented by a young professional in the triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE).
To be eligible for the T.W Schultz Prize for Best Oral Contributed Paper, the lead author must be under 40 years of age at the time of submission of the paper.

The Contributed paper is evaluated by a committee based on the criterion of originality of research and methods, quality of conclusions and readability.

The prize provides both a certificate of achievement and a cash prize of $US 1000.

NILS WESTERMARCK PRIZE FOR BEST POSTER

This prize is named after Nils Westermarck, an outstanding contributor to the IAAE and the agricultural economics profession.

This prize is awarded for the best visual contributed paper by a young professional in the triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE).

To be eligible for the Nils Westermarck Prize for the best Poster, the lead author
must be under 40 years of age at the time of submission of the paper.

The paper is evaluated by a committee based on the criterion of originality of research and methods, quality of conclusion and readability.

The prize provides both a certificate of achievement and a cash prize of $US 1000.

UMA LELE PRIZE FOR BEST CONTRIBUTED PAPER ON GENDER

The Uma Lele Prize for Best Contributed Paper on Gender was established in 2009 by Dr. Uma Lele. This prize is established to encourage research on the changing roles of gender over the course of agricultural development and to support work that addresses ways to improve women’s participation and involvement in agriculture and to ensure that they receive their share of the returns.

The prize is awarded for the contributed paper that makes the greatest contribution to expanding the frontiers of research on gender and agricultural development. The contribution may be theoretical, methodological, empirical or a combination of these.
The Contributed paper on Gender is evaluated by a committee based on the criterion of originality of research and methods, quality of conclusion and readability. Professor Cheryl Doss, Agricultural Economist, Oxford Department of International Development is the chair of this Committee.

The prize provides both a certificate of achievement and a cash prize of $US 1000.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERION FOR ALL THE above THREE PRIZES

• The paper must be presented as a contributed paper/ poster for the ICAE 2021 conference.
• While submitting the paper, authors should indicate that they would like to be considered for the award.

Eicher Award Nomination

Submissions for the IAAE 2021 Carl K. Eicher Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation

Family, friends, and colleagues of the late Carl K. Eicher established a fund under the IAAE to support an award for the best doctoral dissertation in our discipline on Africa to honor his outstanding contributions to African agricultural research and education. The third award will be made at ICAE 2021 and will consist of a cash prize and partial travel support to attend the conference.

The IAAE is now calling for nominations for the award.

• Any department of Agricultural Economics (under any name variant), department of Economics or allied discipline with a specialization in Agricultural Economics can present nominations.

• Nominations should be made by either the Chair of the Department or the principal Supervisor of the nominee.

• All doctoral dissertations relating to agricultural economics (according to the JEL classification) applied to an African problem (defined according the FAO classification of African countries) are eligible.

• Doctoral dissertations must have been completed during the years, 2018, 2019 or 2020.

• Each nomination must include a cover memo of a maximum of two pages on why the dissertation has been selected for nomination.

• Each nomination should include an electronic copy of the dissertation.

• Nominators MUST provide the IAAE with the name of a recognized Agricultural Economist who has agreed to serve as a member of the Review Committee to select the winning entry. Review Committee members will be asked to review three dissertations in the first round, and then to review the three dissertations that scored the highest in a second and final round.

• Please write in the subject line of the e-mail Nomination for Eicher Award ICAE 2021

Nominations should be sent to Dr. Surabhi Mittal (Member Secretary ICWAE) with CC to Dr. Uma Lele (President - Elect) by April 15, 2021 (US Eastern Time Zone Standard Time 5 pm).

Prof. Karen Brooks, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University is the chair of the Eicher Award Committee

Prof. Carl K. Eicher