Harold M. Harris

The “A” in SAEA – Agricultural… or Applied?

I am perhaps not the best person to argue the case of Agricultural Economics over that of Applied Economics . When I came to Clemson in 1975, we were Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology . When the number of sociologists dropped to one in 1990, we became Agricultural and Applied Economics . Our Ph.D. program had already adopted the title Applied Economics in 1984. People like Jim Hite, Buddy Dillman, and Mark Henry were leaders in Environmental Economics and Rural Economic Development and were fans of Applied Economics . I strongly agreed with these name changes at the time. Clemson was in the vanguard of similar name changes across the country over the past 25 years. But, I wonder now if we were wise or not.