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, additionality in agricultural conservation programs, the role of crop insurance in agricultural land use decisions, and farmer transaction costs in conservation program applications. Current research includes work on the effect of technical assistance on conservation practice adoption and the determinants of sustained adoption of no-till.

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., E. Duquette, and D. Smith. 2018. "Additionality in U.S. Agricultural Conservation Programs," Land Economics 94(1):19-35.

Claassen, R., J. Savage, C. Loesch, V. Breneman, R. Williams, B. Mulvaney, and T. Fairbanks. 2017. "Additionality in Grassland Easements to Provide Migratory Bird Habitat in the Northern Plains," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 42(3):291–309

Claassen, R., M. Bowman, V. Breneman, R. Williams, T. Wade, R. Williams, J. Fooks, L. Hansen, R. Iovanna, and C. Loesch. 2017. Conservation Compliance: How Incentives Are Changing in the Crop Insurance Era. ERR-234, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, July.

Wade, T., and R. Claassen. 2017. "Modeling No-Tillage Adoption by Corn and Soybean Producers: Insights into Sustained Adoption," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 49(2):186-210. 

Claassen, R., C. Langpap, and J. Wu. 2017. "Impacts of Federal Crop Insurance on Land Use and Environmental Quality," American Journal of Agricultural Economics 99(3):592-613.

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., 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.