Spiro E. Stefanou 
Professor of Agricultural Economics


 Office Address:
208B Armsby Building
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 1.814.863 8635
Fax: 1.814.865.3746
Email: spiros@psu.edu 

Teampest Link
 Curriculum Vitae [pdf]

Spiro Stefanou’s research focuses on production economics, the economics of productivity and innovation, the dynamics of economic adjustment, and    economic policy issues.  This research program can be classified broadly as dynamic economic modeling with more recent efforts focusing on the dynamic generalizations of scale and scope economies, efficiency, productivity growth, learning-by-doing, capacity utilization, and product innovation.  
 
He currently maintains an appointment as Visiting Professor of Business Economics in the Department of Social Sciences at Wageningen University. 
 
He is a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association and was a Marie Curie Senior Fellow at the University of Crete (Rethymnon, Greece), Mansholt School Fellow at Wageningen University (Netherlands), and Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and has held visiting positions at the Center for Economic Research, Tilburg Univerisity (Netherlands), Wageningen University, the Institute for Advanced Studies (Vienna, Austria), and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (at Chania).   He is a member of the Foundation of the European Review of Agricultural Economics, the Organizing Committee of the Advanced Summer School in Economics and Econometrics (University of Crete) and a past Executive Board of the American Agricultural Economics Association. 
 
Dr. Stefanou is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Productivity Analysis, AgBioForum and the Agricultural Economics Review.  He has also served as Editor (1997-2002) and Associate Editor (1991-97) of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (1997 - 2001), associate editor of European Review of Agricultural Economics (2001-2007) and on the editorial board of the Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

　
 


Education

Ph.D., Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis,    1983

M.S., Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, 1979

B.A., Anthropology, George Washington University, 1977

　

Recent Publications

Declining cost efficiency as a signal of increasing bank vulnerability: an information theoretic approach, with Lakshmi Balasubramanyan and Jeffrey Stokes, Applied Economics Letters (forthcoming).

Productivity growth patterns in U.S. dairy products manufacturing, with Pinar Celikkol Geylani, Applied Economics (forthcoming).

Brand leadership and product innovation as firm strategies in global food markets, with Mark Gehlhar, Anita Regmi and Barry Zoumas, Journal of Product and Brand Management, 18 (2009), 115-126. [A featured review appears in Strategic Direction, 26(1), forthcoming.]

Knowledge at work: learning and transferring expert reasoning through storytelling, with Julian Hernandez-Serrano, Education, Knowledge and Economy, 3(2009), 55-80.

Dynamic characterizations of efficiency, Agricultural Economics Review, 10(2009), 18-33.

Investment rigidity and policy measures, with Teresa Serra, José M. Gil, and Allen Featherstone, European Review of Agricultural Economics, 36 (2009), 103-120.

The impact of the CAP reforms on the efficiency of the COP sector in Spain, with Fatima Lambarraa, Teresa Serra and José M. Gil, Agricultural Economics, 40 (2009): 355-364.

Nonparametric dynamic efficiency measurement: theory and application, with Elvira Silva, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89 (May 2007), 398-419.

Dynamic efficiency estimation: an application to US electric utilities, with Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 25, (April 2007), 226-238.

Unifying theories of learning and economic decision making, with Candice R. Stefanou and Fang-I Wen, Education, Knowledge and Economy, 1, (March 2007), 5-19.

The dynamics of efficiency improving input allocations and reorganization costs, with Onelack Choi and Jeffrey R. Stokes, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 25, (April 2006), 159-71.

Nonparametric dynamic production analysis and the theory of cost, with Elvira Silva, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 19 (January 2003), 5-32.

An application of neural networks in microeconomics: input-output mapping in a power generation subsector of the US electricity industry, with Bahar Celikkol Erbas, Expert Systems with Applications, forthcoming.

Irreversible investment decision making in on-farm activities, with Rehka Rajagopalan and Jeffrey R. Stokes, Review of Agricultural Economics, forthcoming.

Journal of Productivity Analysis Special Issue on Modeling Issues in Production Analysis 30 1/2 (Fall 2008), edited with Kristiaan Kerstens, forthcoming.

Social learning and production heterogeneity, with Fang-I Wen, Journal of Developing Areas 41, 1, (Fall 2007), 91-115.

Explaining efficiency differences: the case of U.S. agricultural banks, with Onelack Choi and Jeffrey R. Stokes, Agricultural Finance Review 67, 1 (Spring 2007), 55-73.

Nonparametric dynamic efficiency measurement: theory and application, with Elvira Silva, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89 (May 2007), 398-419.

Dynamic efficiency estimation: an application to US electric utilities, with Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 25, (April 2007), 226-238.

Unifying theories of learning and economic decision making, with Candice R. Stefanou and Fang-I Wen, Education, Knowledge and Economy, 1, (March 2007), 5-19.

The dynamics of efficiency improving input allocations and reorganization costs, with Onelack Choi and Jeffrey R. Stokes, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 25, (April 2006), 159-71.

Nonparametric dynamic production analysis and the theory of cost, with Elvira Silva, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 19 (January 2003), 5-32.

 

Working Papers
  • Dynamics of efficiency and productivity growth in U.S. electric utilities, with Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon [download]
  • To learn or not to learn?, with Fang-I Wen [download]
  • The impact of inefficiency on diversification, with Alfons Oude Lansink [download]
  • Managing firm competitiveness in global markets, with Mark Gehlhar, Anita Regmi and Barry Zoumas [download]
  • Brand leadership and product innovation as firm strategies in global food markets, with Mark Gehlhar, Anita Regmi and Barry Zoumas [download]
  • Linking investment bursts to total factor productivity growth: evidence from the U.S. food manufacturing sector, with Pinar Celikkol Geylani [download]
  • Measuring technical efficiency with Leontief technologies, with Margarita Genius and Vangelis Tzouvelekas [download]
  • Dynamic dual model under state-contingent production uncertainty, with Teresa Serra and Alfons Oude Lansink. [download]
  • Measurement of dynamic efficiency: a directional distance function parametric approach, with Teresa Serra and Alfons Oude Lansink. [download]
　


Current Teaching (Pennsylvania State University)

        AG BM 440  - Food Product Innovation Management (Undergraduate) (syllabus)
        AEREC 510 - Econometrics I (Graduate) (syllabus)
        AEREC 534 - Advanced Production Economics II (Graduate) (syllabus)
Teaching (Other Institutions)

     Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (at Chania)

     Wageningen University, Mansholt Graduate School

  • Parametric Approaches to Measuring Efficiency and Productivity Growth, July 2003 and July 2006 (syllabus)
  • Dynamic Efficiency and Production Analysis, July 2007 (syllabus)