The biographical information published for AAEA Fellow Spiro
Stefanou in the December 2006 issue of the journal was incomplete. The
correct information is published below in its entirety. The editors
apologize for this error.
Spiro E. Stefanou
2006 Fellow
Professor, 1995 to present, Associate Professor, 1989-95, Assistant
Professor 1983-89, Pennsylvania State University
Marie Curie Fellow, University of Crete, 2006
Mansholt Scholar, Wageningen University, 2006
Visiting Professor, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute/CIHEAM
(Chania), 2002 to present
Visiting Professor, Wageningen University, 1995, 1996, 2003, and
2006
Visiting Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies (Vienna),
1994-97
Jean Monnet Fellow, European University Institute, 1990-91
Co-Editor, 1998-2002, Associate Editor, 1991-97, American Journal
of Agricultural Economics
Editorial Boards: Agricultural Economics Review, 2003 to present,
AgBioForum, 2003 to present, European Review of Agricultural Economics,
2001 to present, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 2002 to present,
Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 1989-91
Thesis Advisor, AAEA Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Awards, 1988
and 1997, Torties Award for Outstanding Graduate Research, Mineral
Economics and Management Society, 2002, Allan B. Colburn Outstanding
Dissertation Award, University of Delaware, 1991
Harbaugh Faculty Scholar Award, Pennsylvania State University, 2001
Provost's Special Recognition Award, Pennsylvania State
University, 1998
PhD, University of California, Davis, 1983
MS, University of Maryland, 1979
BA, George Washington University, 1977
Spiro E. Stefanou has made significant contributions in dynamic
production analysis, the economics of productivity and innovation, the
economics of adjustment, and economic policy issues. Among his
accomplishments are dynamic generalizations of concepts in modern
production theory such as scale and scope economies, efficiency,
productivity growth, and learning-by-doing. Focusing on how economic
dynamics arise from the accumulation and use of knowledge itself, he
demonstrates how knowledge interacts with and substitutes for physical
inputs in promoting an agent's objectives. In so doing, he has
deepened our understanding of the value of information in its broadest
sense.
His hallmark as a scholar is developing creative solutions to the
emerging challenges in the agricultural and food economy throughout the
world.
He offers an understanding of how markets and decision makers
interact and use models focusing on relative incentives over time to
analyze the data that can capture the core economic decision-making
relationships. As such, he sees his role as explaining the themes that
can catalyze the decision maker's thinking.
He is a native of Washington, DC, whose father emigrated from
Palasa, an ethnic Greek village in southern Albania, and mother
emigrated from Aghii Deka in Corfu, Greece. As he completed his
bachelor's degree in anthropology from George Washington
University, his attention moved toward agricultural economics with his
emerging interests in development and trade. He received his first
practical training in agricultural economics as a research assistant at
IFPRI while pursuing his master's in agricultural and resource
economics at the University of Maryland. Stefanou went on to earn his
PhD in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis
and has spent his academic career at Pennsylvania State University.
By the mid-1990s, the AJAE editorial workload expanded to the point
that few individuals and their departments could assume it. Along with
his partner editors, Stefanou's solution was to revolutionize the
Journal's management structure by developing the concept of
recruiting and leading a team of four rotating co-editors, as well as
simultaneously transferring publication responsibilities to a commercial
firm. In 2002, Stefanou stepped down after twelve years of continuous
editorial service to the AJAE, with the last five years as editor.
He is also committed to pursuing innovations in teaching and
learning. He has pioneered problem-based learning formats in
agricultural and environmental economics while also addressing the
issues of assessing the level of student learning. Graduate students
find him to be a valuable mentor, with four dissertations under his
direction having been acknowledged for excellence in research.
Stefanou has been a commendable professional servant. In addition
to his service on various AAEA committees since 1987, he has served as
an editorial board member continuously since 1989 and presently
maintains appointments as co- or associate editor for four other
journals. He is also prominent in overseas economics associations and
academic departments, having held visiting faculty appointments in
Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, and Greece, and has delivered over 120
presentations at professional meetings or colloquia around the world.
More than half of Stefanou's scholarly presentations have been on
an invitational basis in 16 foreign countries. He has served on ten
different international scientific committees on workshops related to
productivity, efficiency and globalization as well as two summer schools
in advanced applied economics training. His close contact with programs
and scholars outside the U.S. has led to broadening the community of
scholars interested in pursuing excellence in agricultural economies
research.
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