Nathan Holtman is having a great year. The master’s graduate student from Texas Tech’s Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics has received four outstanding thesis awards from Texas Tech University, the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, the Western Agricultural Economics Association, and the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.

“This is an extraordinary accomplishment,” said Stephen Devadoss, Nathan’s advisor and Texas Tech’s Emabeth Thompson Endowed Professor. “In my 40 years of my academic career, and having mentored hundreds of students, Nathan is the best student I have ever advised. He has a very bright future ahead of him.”

The title of Holtman’s thesis is, “The Effects of Domestic and Trade Policy Interventions on Global Agricultural Trade.” Despite efforts to liberalize agricultural trade, many countries continue to heavily subsidize their agricultural production and high import tariffs continue to persist in the world market. His study theoretically and empirically quantified the benefits of removing tariffs, production subsidies, and export subsidies by utilizing a large-scale computable general equilibrium model.

His results show that a global trade agreement increases welfare by $60 billion when all countries remove tariffs, production subsidies, and export subsidies from agricultural sectors, which accentuates the benefits of completing a global free trade agreement.

Jaime Malaga, a professor within Tech’s Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, and Angel Aguiar, a research economist with Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics, served on Nathan’s thesis committee. 

In 2020, Holtman, a native of Ropesville, Texas, was also recognized as the Davis College Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics’ highest-ranking fall graduate. In addition, Holtman is a recipient of several significant graduate fellowships and scholarships, including the Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship, CH Foundation Graduate Fellowship, United Supermarkets Graduate Fellowship, Sam & Kathy Elliott Graduate Scholarship, and Trinity Graduate Scholarship. Holtman is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Tech’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics in preparation for a Ph.D. program in economics.

“As a future professor, I hope to advise my students the way that I was advised by Dr. Devadoss,” Holtman said. “Dr. Devadoss goes an extra million miles for his students and genuinely takes an interest in their lives. The Department, Davis College, and Texas Tech University are extremely fortunate to have a faculty member like Dr. Devadoss. He brings valuable recognition to Texas Tech through his many research, teaching, mentoring, grant-writing, and service activities.”

CONTACT: Phillip Johnson, chair and director of the Thornton Agricultural Finance Institute, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-0474 or phil.johnson@ttu.edu

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