In Profile: Agricultural Economist Shaikh Rahman
Both literally and figuratively, Shaikh Rahman has traveled many miles from his family's three-acre Bangladesh farm to the halls of academia here at Texas Tech University. Introduced early to applied economics, Rahman said that even before he was old enough to realize it, his father's rice, jute and vegetable farm introduced him to the "Cobweb Phenomenon."
Put simply, that's a supply and demand influenced phenomenon prevalent in dramatically fluctuating agricultural markets in which producers attempt to predict prices for their crops based upon expectations drawn from the previous year's yield, consumer demand, and crop prices.
Unpredictable Markets. Given the distinct lag time inherent to agriculture, Rahman said expectations often don't match subsequent post-harvest realities, resulting in an imbalance between supply and demand and, therefore, widely fluctuating prices from year to year. "My childhood experiences on my family's farm, along with my father's ongoing struggles with the unpredictable agricultural markets in Bangladesh, induced me to study economics," he said.
Hoping to build upon his dissertation research on value-based pricing of fed cattle, Rahman looked for an academic home in cattle-rich states and was excited to land at Texas Tech. "I find the department very collegial and the people here very friendly," he said.
Economic Problems. Rahman is particularly interested in the complexities associated with the economic problems facing the agricultural industry as a whole "" and its cattle and farming interests in particular. His research focus is on organization and structure of agricultural markets, risk management through alternative crop and livestock production and marketing systems, climate change, and economic development.
"My research approach is to identify the real life economic problems farmers are facing today and to examine the issues employing economic theory and empirical data," he said. "I then take my research results to the field for validation and application."
International Consultant. Prior to earning his master's degree in agricultural and applied economics at the University of Georgia (2000) and his doctorate in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland (2007), Rahman completed a bachelor's degree in economics (1995) at Dhaka University in Bangladesh.
In addition to teaching at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh, Rahman has served as a consultant to the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank. An active member of the American Agricultural Economics Association, he has presented his scholarship at numerous conferences and published in several journals.
Written by Sean Cleveland
CONTACT: Shaikh Mahfuzur Rahman, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-1921, ext. 240 or shaikh.m.rahman@ttu.edu
Davis College NewsCenter
-
Address
P.O. Box 42123, Lubbock, Texas 79409-2123, Dean's Office Location:Goddard Building, Room 108 -
Phone
(806)742-2808 -
Email
kris.allen@ttu.edu