Comparison of the Research Trend of the 28th IAAE Conference in Brazil with That of Previous Conferences

This study reviews the trend in research by focusing on papers presented at the 28 th IAAE, International Association of Agricultural Economists, a conference held in Brazil in 2012, in comparison with those presented at previous IAAE conferences. The IAAE conference is the largest among international meetings for agricultural economists; thus, reviewing papers at this conference is useful to grasp the current research trends in agricultural economics worldwide. The study has also considered the significance of the IAAE Brazilian conference in terms of the international contribution by Japanese agricultural economists because, for the first time, a Japanese economist has served as the president of IAAE and presided over this conference. The review revealed the following points. First, the number of poster presentations increased from previous conferences, indicating the stimulation of participation by young researchers. Second, the number of sessions of oral presentation increased in the fields of development economics and resource/environmental economics. These two fields accounted for about a half of the total number of oral sessions. Market-related topics also increased to attain nearly a 20%share of the oral presentations. There was an expansion of topics, especially in the arena of resource/environmental economics. In conclusion, it is safe to say that agricultural economics is widening its field toward the economics of rural resource management from the field of traditional production-oriented economics.