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What Wins Awards?. American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, August 1-4, 2004. Steven S. Vickner Associate Professor Department of Economics Utah State University. What Wins Awards?. Sorry, no magic formula to report.
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What Wins Awards? American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, August 1-4, 2004 Steven S. Vickner Associate Professor Department of Economics Utah State University
What Wins Awards? • Sorry, no magic formula to report. • Instead thoughts from current and former editors of major agricultural economics journals.
Thoughts on Research Excellence • First application of a theory from general economics. • Better still… development of a new theory with empirical evidence supporting the theory. • Empirical evidence that confirms the theory. Strong empirical results.
Thoughts on Research Excellence • An analysis that sheds light on a problem that is heavily debated by agricultural economists but previous empirical analyses have fallen short. For example, do farm program payments preserve a structure of agriculture such that smaller operations can survive and prosper? Are farmers harmed by increasing marketing margins on basic agricultural commodities?
Thoughts on Research Excellence • A good application of new or existing theory to pressing issues with strong policy implications (and good data). • An important question that matters to agricultural economists. A relevant article. • Methodology that is innovative (not necessarily new methods, perhaps existing methods applied in a new manner).
Thoughts on Research Excellence • Insights that aren’t achievable by common sense or standard approaches to the problem. • A paper that takes us to a new level of understanding. • A paper that fundamentally changes the way we think about a subject.
Thoughts on Research Excellence • A leap forward, not just a marginal contribution. • Importance of topic, that in effect this has been a question for a while. • How well this question was addressed (now this typically involves econometrics). • Can be a conceptual model where the problem is cast in a different light and the solution is found in a way different manner than the literature prescribes.
Final Thoughts • Economists usually don’t start out thinking how do I write an award-winning article. • These path breaking articles involve some risk taking by the authors – challenge the establishment. (note incentive structure for tenure track profs however) • Publish a lot / submit a lot and thick skin. • The runner-ups.