ARE Welcomes Dr. Mark Agerton to Faculty
Sept. 14, 2018
The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) is proud to welcome Dr. Mark Agerton to the faculty as an assistant professor.
Agerton earned a B.A. in Spanish from Davidson College in North Carolina, an M.A. in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Ph.D. in economics from Rice University in Houston.
Agerton chose to pursue a doctoral degree in economics because of its simple ability to explain.
“I took my first microeconomics course at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business a couple of years after college, and I fell in love with how the simple, elegant framework in economics could explain so much of the world around me,” he said. “The day I walked in to take the final, I decided I wanted to pursue a Ph.D.”
Excitement for the discipline remains strong.
“Several years later, I still love (and pull my hair out over!) the exercise of going back and forth between a story about something we see in the world and the mathematical representation of it that allows us to make predictions and test hypotheses,” Agerton added.
Agerton’s fields of interest include energy and resource economics, computational methods, applied econometrics, and industrial organization.
“In Houston, where I’m from, the oil and gas industry is in the water (figuratively, not literally!),” Agerton said. “Given the ability of local experts and relevance to Texas, my research focus to date has been about how oil and gas producers make irreversible investment decisions in this industry. I’m excited to continue this line of research at UC Davis, while also exploring how some of the same frameworks and tools are useful to other resources.”
Agerton and his wife are both Houston natives. His hobbies include travel, fly-fishing, and cooking, “so I’m thrilled about the Davis farmer’s market and the fresh produce here,” he said.
Throughout his education, Agerton wasn’t afraid to approach teachers or professors. Knowing the benefits of faculty guidance, Agerton looks forward to mentoring ARE students.
“I really enjoy getting to work with students,” he added.
Proud to be part of the renowned UC Davis ARE, Agerton is simply looking forward to everything the department, teaching, and research have to offer.
“Being on the faculty at a great institution like UC Davis has been my dream job for a long time!” he said.
— By Joshua Bingham, ARE Outreach Coordinator
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