Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-15-1984

Keywords

agricultural economics, teaching, research

Abstract

Making more efficient use of resources in agricultural economics departments is an important challenge of this period of budget stress (Stanton and Farrell). Beattie noted that during such periods “. . . something must be done to relieve the pressure lest our universities be forced to reduce the quantity and/or quality of their output" (p. 209). In suggesting a direction for necessary action, Beattie used an analogy from the theory of the firm to argue for a strategy of "revenue maximization" on the part of agricultural economics departments. To achieve an efficient resource allocation "a university department, like a multi-product firm, must choose an output combination subject to a set of constraints" (Beattie, p. 210). The outputs of universities have often been identified as teaching, research and extension (Bishop; Thatch; Beattie). The scarcest of all constraining resources over which a department head has some influence is faculty time (Beattie). Therefore, to evaluate departmental output strategies it is necessary to consider faculty performance relative to the allocation of their time. As part of such an evaluation, the general objective of this paper is to determine what might be the most effective allocation of faculty time between teaching and research. 1 Secondary objectives are to consider (1) what factors influence teaching effectiveness and research output, and (2) what is the relationship (if any) between teaching and research performance.

Publisher

Department of Economics, South Dakota State University

Series Number

84-4

Number of Pages

18

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