Roger Claassen

Agricultural Economist
202-694-5473
claassen@ers.usda.gov

Briefly

Roger Claassen is a Senior Agricultural Economist in the Conservation and Environmental Branch in the Resource and Rural Economics Division.

Background

Specializing in conservation and environmental policy issues, Roger's research agenda has included work on wetland policy issues, the effectiveness of conservation compliance and other environmental compliance requirements, cost-effective design of voluntary payment programs for conservation, and additionality in agricultural conservation programs. Current research includes work on conservation compliance incentives in the 2014 Farm Act, the role of crop insurance in agricultural land use decisions, and farmer transaction costs in conservation program applications.  

Education

Roger holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in Agronomy at Kansas State University. 

Selected Publications

Claassen, R., C. Langpap, and J. Wu. 2016. “Impacts of Federal Crop Insurance on Land Use and Environmental Quality,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, October, published online.

McCann, L., and R. Claassen. 2016. “Farmer Transaction Costs of Participating in Federal Conservation Programs: Magnitudes and Determinants,” Land Economics 92(2):256-272.

Claassen, R., J. Horowitz, E. Duquette, and K. Ueda. 2014. Additionality in U.S. Agricultural Conservation and Regulatory Offset Programs, ERR-170, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, July, 75 pp.

Claassen, R., D. Hellerstein, and S. Kim. 2013. “Using Mixed Logit in Land Use Models: an Expectation-Maximization (EM) Algorithms Facilitate Estimation?” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 95(2):419-425.

Claassen, R. 2012. The Future of Environmental Compliance Incentives in U.S. Agriculture, EIB-94, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, March, 18 pp.

Claassen, R., F. Carriazo, J. Cooper, D. Hellerstein, and K. Ueda. 2011. Grassland to Cropland Conversion in the Northern Plains: The Role of Crop Insurance, Commodity, and Disaster Assistance Programs, ERR-120, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, June, 53 pp.

Claassen, R., J. Cooper, and F. Carriazo. 2011. “Crop Insurance, Disaster Payments and Land Use Change: The Effect of Sodsaver on Incentives for Grassland Conversion,” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 43(2):195-211.

Claassen, R., and R.E. Just. 2011. “Heterogeneity and Distribution of Farm-Level Yields,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93(1):144-160.

Claassen, R., A. Cattaneo, and R. Johansson. 2008. “Cost-Effective Agri-Environmental Policy: U.S. Experience in Theory and Practices,” Ecological Economics 64(4):737-752, May.

Claassen, R. 2007. "Buying Environmental Services: Effective Use of Economic Tools," in Managing Agricultural Landscapes for Environmental Quality, M. Schnepf, and C. Cox, eds. Ankeny, IA: Soil and Water Conservation Society.

Claassen, R., V. Breneman, S. Bucholtz, A. Cattaneo, R. Johansson, and M. Morehart. 2004. Environmental Compliance in Agricultural Policy: Past Performance and Future Potential, AER-832, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.