Shively

After graduating magna cum laude from Boston University and getting his master’s in economics there in 1985, Gerald Shively did something unexpected: He bought a one-way ticket to Katmandu, Nepal, and spent almost two years traveling on a shoestring budget throughout South and Southeast Asia. He saw firsthand the problems faced by rural low-income people in developing countries.

Although there was no way to know it at the time, Shively’s voyage would guide him toward a career in agricultural economics, a field in which he would become a leader and produce what a peer calls a “prodigious total of research.”

“In retrospect, that trip was an important part of my growing awareness of problems related to economic development and the critical role of agriculture in fostering development,” Shively says.

Now, with only 11 years’ experience since his PhD, Shively has compiled a record of research and leadership that is impressive by any measure, having already authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in top journals and being recognized as a pre-eminent leader in his field with appointments as co-editor-in-chief of Agricultural Economics (published by the International Association of Agricultural Economists) and associate editor of Environment and Development Economics (published by Cambridge University Press).

For these and many other reasons, Jerry Shively is the recipient of the 2007 Agricultural Research Award, an annual honor bestowed by Purdue Agriculture.

“Jerry is one of the most deserving scientists that I know of for the Ag Research award,” says Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, associate dean of International Programs in Agriculture. “In his 10 years at Purdue, Jerry has developed a strong record of research output, much of it international work under difficult circumstances. … Jerry is a superb scientist and a valued colleague.”

But Shively is not just a researcher; whether entertaining his family with his guitar, mentoring his students, or conducting research around the world, his work in and out of the office does a lot to better people’s lives. He does this not only by devoting time to his family and students — he received the ag economics department’s undergraduate teaching award in 2003 — but because his research is “closely focused on understanding and addressing problems that affect peoples’ lives and their use of natural resources in rural settings,” according to a peer.

Shively’s interests take him around the world, where he examines a wide range of issues surrounding the role of agriculture in economic development and in the relationship between people and their environment.

Shively’s trademark project, a long-term study of a group of lowland rice farmers and their upland neighbors in a remote region of the Philippines, demonstrated that building an irrigation system in the river valley had positive impacts on productivity, farm households, and even the environment. A surprising observation was that irrigation indirectly caused a small but significant decrease in local rates of deforestation because it provided jobs for the upland residents who otherwise would have cleared forest.

Similar research followed in Malawi, where Shively and one of his students showed that the introduction of improved maize seeds created more opportunities for farm work while reducing forest use. He has done similar research on agricultural markets and production systems in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana, and elsewhere.

What’s more, Shively manages to teach a popular undergraduate course and mentor graduate students, two of whom have received national recognition for their research. And not all of his work is global — he has brought his skills to several local projects, including an economic study of the proposed Grand Kankakee Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana and Illinois.

Throughout Shively’s career, people have been paying attention to — and paying for — his work.

At an international conference in Costa Rica a few years ago, Shively was unexpectedly frank with his audience.

“At the end of my talk, I said that I needed some money to go back to the Philippines to continue my research,” Shively recalls. “Of course we all laughed, because everybody in the room needed research funds.”

Then, during a coffee break, a man approached Shively and offered to fund his next study. “I’m from the World Bank,” Shively recalls the man saying. “I think we can help you out.”

From that point on, others — including the National Science Foundation — followed suit.

Even earlier in his career, as a graduate student, Shively won a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Graduate Studies Fellowship, plus a Fulbright grant.
The rest is history. After earning his PhD from the University of Wisconsin with an award-winning dissertation in 1996, he came to Purdue the same year, where he has been ever since, performing his groundbreaking research and educating the students who will make further contributions … just one more reason why many of Shively’s students and colleagues hope that all of his future plane tickets will be round-trip.

Contact Shively at shivelyg@purdue.edu