Eric Crawford

Eric Crawford

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Professor
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Phone:
517-432-3883

Email:

Degrees:
Ph.D., Cornell University
M.P.A., Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
B.A., Pomona College

Publications on Google Scholar

Prior to his doctoral studies, Professor Emeritus Crawford worked on rural and agricultural development programs in Kenya for five years, initially as a Peace Corps volunteer. He joined the department at Michigan State in 1979 as a tenure-system assistant professor focusing on international agricultural development.  He has taught graduate courses in farm management and benefit-cost analysis. He has been a core faculty member of the department’s USAID-funded rural development and food security projects in Africa since 1980. He worked in Senegal in 1983-86 under a department project with the Institute of Agricultural Research, focusing on farming systems research, fertilizer distribution, and food security policy.

His research has covered the evaluation of agricultural research impacts, determinants of farm productivity and investment, benefit-cost analysis of alternative strategies for promoting improved input use, and linking farm household models with climate change and crop models. From September 1992 through September 2006 he served as Associate Chairperson and graduate program coordinator. From 2006-2022, he served as Co-Director of the Food Security Group within the department, and was the Director of MSU’s Global Center for Food Systems Innovation. He was also a Co-PI on several international projects including the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy and the Grain Research and Innovation (GRAIN) project in Afghanistan. He was a member of a team, led by Thom Jayne, that received the Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in July 2017, and received the AFRE Lifetime Service Award in 2022, and in 2017 he was awarded the Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at MSU. Professor Emeritus Crawford retired in December 2022. 

Research and Outreach Interests

  • Modeling of climate change impacts on household food security in Africa
  • Application of budgeting and investment analysis techniques in developing countries
  • Benefit-cost analysis, especially of agricultural input support programs
  • Analysis of farming systems and farm household productivity in Africa
  • Evaluation of agricultural research impacts in Africa

Teaching Experience

         (Prior 4 years only)

  • AEC 865, Ag Benefit-Cost Analysis.
  • AEC 890, Independent Study.
  • AEC 992, Seminar in Agricultural Econ.
  • PPL 809, Cost-Benefit Analysis

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