Event

The University of the West Indies hosts a Professorial Inaugural Lecture presented by Professor Carlisle Pemberton titled “Economic Behaviour in Agriculture: Rational or Irrational?”

The lecture will be held at Lecture Theatre 1, Block 13, Faculty of Engineering from 5:30pm.

All are invited.

Inspired by Herbert Simon, my quest has always been to explain economic and managerial behavior in Agriculture that appears on the surface to be irrational.  This quest has resulted in research in many different areas. Why do farmers prefer to remain small and sedate in rural areas rather than maximizing profits and expanding to become mega farmers?  Why do cocoa farmers not cut down all their old trees and replant at closer spacing – the Spence model? Why didn’t banana farmers in the Windward Islands diversify out of bananas, as they were urged to do? Should farmers really plan their farming based on the concept of Petit Careme? Can research help in these areas anyhow? Trying to find answers to these types of questions has been a winding journey which will be reviewed in this presentation.