Agricultural Economics Learning Outcomes

Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Sociology - Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to explain basic economic theories, constructing supply and demand curves to determine market equilibrium.
• They will understand the basic workings of the economy, national income determination, and the conditions for national economic equilibrium.
• Students will define international trade concepts and balance of payments.
• They will discuss money creation and banking processes in the national economy.
• Students will understand welfare economics concepts.
• Define and compare agricultural extension methodologies from around the world.
• Students will categorize major rural social institutions, processes, and the need for social changes in rural communities.
• They will explain leadership dynamics for social change in rural communities.

Course Contents

• Nature of Economics and Economic Problems: Discusses the fundamental aspects of economics and related issues.
• Scope of Agricultural Economics and Methods: Explores the field of agricultural economics and its methodologies.
• Concept of Opportunity Cost: Defines opportunity cost and its application to agricultural problems.
• Supply and Demand: Explores supply and demand analysis as an essential tool in agricultural economics.
• Production Functions and Cost Analysis: Analyzes the relationship between inputs and outputs in agricultural production, and cost functions associated with these processes.
• Elasticity Concepts: Discusses elasticity concepts and their relevance to agricultural markets.
• Market Structures (Types): Explores different types of markets (e.g, perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly etc.) within an agricultural context.
• Price Theory: Explains price theory and its applications in agriculture.
• Components of Agriculture in National Income: Describes the role of agriculture in national income.
• National Income and related concepts: Covers aggregate income, expenditure, investment, interest rates, savings, employment, inflation, international trade, commodity agreements, and balance of payments.
• Money and Banking: Discusses the basic principles surrounding the subject.

Definition and Nature & Scope of Economics

• Economics is the science that analyzes the production, exchange and consumption of goods within an economic system.
• Its central focus is on the scarcity of resources and the need to make choices among competing uses.
• Economics aims to increase wealth and human welfare by understanding resource allocation.
• Two primary factors drive economic problems: unlimited human wants and limited resources.

Scope of Economics

• Economics is the study of allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants.
• It encompasses microeconomics (individual behavior) and macroeconomics (aggregate behavior).
• Includes decision making of individuals and the macro variables of an economy like national income, public finance, and international trade.

Definitions of Economics

• Wealth definition: Economics is the science of wealth.
• Welfare definition: Economics is the study of mankind in ordinary business of life and in examining the material requisites of well-being.
• Growth definition: Economics is the study of how men and society choose to employ scarce productive resources to produce goods and services over time, and distribute them to individuals.

Economics-A Science and an Art

• Economics is a science that systematizes knowledge, measures causes and effects, and identifies relationships between variables.
• It incorporates elements of art because it provides practical guidance to solve economic problems.

Positive and Normative Economics

• Positive economics: Describes "what is" in economic terms; it does not involve value judgments.
• Normative economics: Prescribes "what ought to be" in economics; it involves value judgments.