Faculty

Jill L. Findeis

Distinguished Professor of Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography

Email address: fa2@psu.edu

Telephone:814-863-8246

Fax: 1-814-865-3746

Office address: 111D Armsby Building

University Park, PA 16802

Research Interests

My research seeks to understand the impacts of economic-social-environmental and policy change on human well-being. Two themes guide recent work: 1) understanding decision-making behaviors, especially as related to providing food security using environmentally sustainable practices, human health and disease dynamics, and labor utilization, and 2) understanding the impacts of public policy reform in spatially-differentiated contexts. Research uses panel data, and increasingly spatial, network and agent-based modeling approaches. We are interested in modeling individual, household and larger-scale adjustments to economic-social-environmental change and policy reform. For 2008-09, I am a Visiting Professor at Cornell University. Current funding includes grants from NIH, NSF, McKnight Foundation, USAID CRSP, USDA NRI (2), USDA Cooperative Agreement, and Mellon Financial Foundation. I hold appointments in the Population Research Institute, the School for International Affairs, and in the Demography and Operations Research Programs at Penn State.

Since many people in developing and developed countries remain dependent on agricultural production for food sustenance and income, a major thrust of my research program is on individuals, families and households engaged in food production (agriculture). In a period of rapid change in agriculture attributable to globalization and policy reform, these forces can have critical impacts on well-being within and across households and ultimately on the structure of agriculture. Understanding developing as well as developed country situations is important, as they represent a continuum of behaviors.

Recent research efforts -- often in collaboration with graduate students -- have involved the NAFTA countries (U.S., Canada, Mexico), South Asia (China, Bangladesh, and Nepal), and Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, The Gambia). We often use bargaining models, based on game theory, to understand human interactions. Key research questions relate to how households adjust to change; interdisciplinary work now underway will answer questions regarding how human adjustments affect the environment.

Outreach

Our research projects often include a translational component because the research team strongly believes that research and science more broadly should have impact on people’s lives. Specific projects useful for outreach include:

immigration policy and farm worker populations (NIH R03, in collaboration with the Migrant Education Program and Rural Opportunities, Inc.);
food security, health and disease dynamics, particularly in the border region of the US (NSF) and in rural African communities (USAID CRSP, McKnight Foundation);
sustainable food production practices and gender (NRI, with WAgN);
evolution of land use, landholding behaviors and land transfer (NRI T-Zone)
workforce development programs targeted to former welfare recipients (Mellon Community Bridge).

Current/Recent Courses

AEREC 597A: Rural Labor and Labor Markets (graduate residential)
CEDEV 575: Methods and Techniques for Community and Economic Development (graduate on-line)
CED 410: The Global Seminar (upper-level undergraduate)
CED 230: Development Issues in the Global Context (lower-level undergraduate)

Recent Selected Publications

Jayaraman, A., and J.L. Findeis. 2009 (forthcoming). Poverty Dynamics: Study of Chronic and Transient Poor after Flooding in Rural Bangladesh. Journal of Quantitative Economics.

Findeis, J., K. Brasier, and R. Salcedo Du Bois. 2009 (forthcoming) Population-driven Transition Zones in the United States: Demographic Change, Land Use, and Adjustments in the Structure of Agriculture. In S. Goetz and F. Brouwer (eds.), New Perspectives on Agri-environmental Policies; a Multidisciplinary and Transatlantic Approach, Routledge.

Krantz, S., J.L. Findeis, and S. Shrestha. 2008. Use of the Revised Diet Quality Index to Assess
Preschoolers’ Diet Quality, Its Sociodemographic Predictors, and Its Association with Body
Weight Status. J. Pediat. (Rio J.) 84:26-34.

Dwyer, J. and J.L. Findeis. 2008. Human and Social Capital in Rural Development. Eurochoices 7(1):38-45.

Findeis, J., H. Swaminathan, and A. Jayaraman. 2005. Agricultural Households in the U.S.: Participation in Labor, Decision-making, and the Effects of Farm Asset Control. Economie Rurale 289-290:44-62.

Nankhuni, F., and J.L. Findeis. 2004. Natural Resource Collection Work and Children’s Schooling in Malawi. Agricultural Economics 31(2-3):123-134.

Zhang, L. and J.L.Findeis. 2008. A Multi-agent System (MAS) Model of Agricultural Technology Adoption, Labor Mobility and Land Markets. 2008 INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Systems) Annual Conference, Washington, DC. November.

Findeis, J.L., A. Snyder, L. Jensen, J. Larson, L. Sevilla, and B. Salas. 2008. Future of Pennsylvania’s Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Youth. Presentation at: Immigration Reform: Implications for Farmers, Farm Workers and Communities. Conference sponsored by the University of California-Davis. Washington, DC. May.

Zhang, L. and J.L. Findeis. 2007. Agent-based Modeling on Household Migration and Land Use Decisions in South China. Paper presented at the Transatlantic Land Use Change Conference, Washington, DC. September.

Shrestha, S. and J.L. Findeis. 2007. Maternal Human Capital and Childhood Stunting in Nepal: A Hierarchical Multi-level Approach. Selected paper presented at the 2007 Annual Meetings of American Agricultural Economics Association. Portland, OR. July-August.

Selected Recent Presentations/Presented Papers

Bharadwaj. L. and J.L. Findeis. July-August. 2007. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations and Participation in Off-farm Work Among U.S. Farm Women. Selected paper presented at the 2007 Annual Meetings of American Agricultural Economics Association. Portland, OR.

Shrestha, Sundar, Jill L. Findeis and Stephen M. Smith. 2006. Spatial Aspects of Government Farm Payments and Farm Structure in the U.S. Paper presented at the 2006 Annual Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association. March-April.

Recent Awards, Recognitions, Appointments

Washington State University (CANRS) Distinguished Women’s Academic and Professional Award (2008)

University Distinguished Professor, Penn State (2008)

Appointed Professor and Governing Council member, School for International Affairs (2007)

Harbaugh Scholar (2006, 2007)

Vice President’s Award for Learning and Community (Group Award, 2005)

Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching (2000)

Recent Graduate Students (last five years)

Swaminathan, H. 2003. Bargaining and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: An Analysis of the Impact of Credit and Land in Malawi. Ph.D., Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics. Current position: Assistant Professor, Indian School of Management. Formerly Senior Economist, ICRW, Washington, DC.

Wang, Q. 2004. Essays on Welfare Use, the Wage Gap and Unemployment Transitions in the United States. Dual Ph.D. program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography. Current position: Senior Economist, Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Nankhuni, F.J. 2004. Environmental Degradation, Resource Scarcity and Children’s Welfare in Malawi: School of Attendance, School Progress, and Children’s Health. Dual Ph.D. program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography. Current position: World Bank. Formerly Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard (Bell Fellow).

Mukhopadhyay, A. 2005. A Comparison of Two Measures of Income Adequacy for Utility Consumers in Pennsylvania: The Federal Poverty Measure Versus the Self-Sufficiency Standard. M.S., Community and Economic Development.

Jayaraman, A. 2006. Poverty, Vulnerability and Bargaining in Bangladeshi Households. Dual Ph.D. program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography. Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, MACRO International (DHS Survey).

Shrestha, S. 2007. Three Essays on Environment, Child Health, and Labor Allocation: A Household Decision Framework. Dual PhD program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography. Co-chair: David Abler. Current position: Senior Economist, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Formerly: Postdoctoral Fellow, CDC.

Bharadwaj, L. 2007. Labor Participation, Motivations and Benefit Receipt Among U.S. Farm Women. Ph.D. Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics. Current position: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

Tunceli, O. 2007. Voluntary and Involuntary Employment Status and Transitions in Rural Labor Markets. Ph.D., Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics.

Current Graduate Students

Salcedo DuBois, R. In progress. Dual PhD program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography.

Sevilla, L. In progress. Dual PhD program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Demography

Zhang, L. In progress. Household Models and Household Decision-Making. Dual PhD program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics & Operations Research.

Salas, B. MS program in Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics.

Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology

College of Agricultural Sciences