ASU Professor Recognized for Published Works

July 15, 2005

MESA, Ariz. — An Arizona State University professor from the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at the Polytechnic campus continues to be recognized as a prolific writer of journal articles.<separator></separator>"It's unusual for anyone to receive the amount of recognition Professor Timothy Richards has for journal articles in any field, especially agriculture," said Dean Raymond Marquardt. "He has received some of the highest recognition by agricultural associations and has become highly recognized in academia because of his articles."<separator></separator>It's no easy feat getting published in research journals. A peer review is conducted of each submission before it's accepted for publication. Typically, only 20 to 30 percent of the journal articles submitted is accepted annually.<separator></separator>Richards most recent recognition was by the Southern Agricultural Economics Association with an "Outstanding Journal Article (2003)" for his and Gareth Green's article on "Economic Hysteresis in Variety Selection," which appeared in the Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.<separator></separator>Richards' and Green's article studies the question of why people tend to stick with what appear to be losing propositions. Long-term investments, or any major decision for that matter, are made on the assumption that initial expectations of profit prove to be correct. If these expectations prove to be wrong, however, firms often keep the investment going simply because it would be too expensive to change their mind and get back into the game should their initial forecasts prove correct sometime down the road. This is economic hysteresis. Their article applies this concept to the wine grape industry.<separator></separator>Richards has been recognized six times prior for outstanding journal articles by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, and the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics. He has also been recognized as the Power Distinquished Professorship in Agribusiness in 2001 by the Morrison School.<separator></separator>Richards is not complacent with his achievements. He submitted five articles in 2004 and four so far this year to various journals.