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Demand for an Undergraduate Education in the Agricultural Sciences
Author(s) -
Thompson Richard P.,
Capps Oral,
Massey Joseph G.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1243632
Subject(s) - human capital , agriculture , economics , labour economics , college education , natural resource , labor demand , on demand , demand curve , agricultural economics , demographic economics , economic growth , microeconomics , political science , biology , commerce , ecology , wage , law
Undergaduate enrollments in the agricultural and natural resource sciences (AGNR) declined during the 1980s. The present study sought to analyze factors affecting the drop in demand for an AGNR education. Two time‐series pooled models were employed: a household production function (HPF) variant and a Mincerian human capital form. The HPF variant offers the empirical advantage of a price expression that accounts for changes in AGNR demand beyond significant wealth, structural, regional, and gender effects. High opportunity costs of AGNR careers stalled demand during the 1980s—a problem that may persist for some AGNR career areas.