Agricultural and Resource Economics

Economics (College of Arts and Sceince)

Member of the Research Group on Development Economics of the German Economic Association

The overall objective of my research program is to improve our understanding of the economic decision-making among households living in rural and remote settings often exposed to an adverse environment with limited access to formal safety net mechanisms. My focus is on two aspects that determine the risk management decision: (i) the impact of adverse risks, and (ii) the interaction with people’s preferences and perceptions. To assess my research questions, I apply empirical microeconomic strategies, leveraging rich data sets obtained from household surveys, lab-in-the-field experiments, social network studies, and climate data observations. Geographically, I work primarily with rural agricultural households in Southeast Asia and West Africa, and more recently with remote First Nation communities in Northern Canada.

2015 PhD in Economics, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany (summa cum laude)
2008 MSc in Economics, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Liebenehm, S., Jaretzky, H., & Waibel, H. (2023). Extreme weather and agricultural management decisions among smallholder farmers in rural Thailand and Vietnam. Agricultural Economics, 1–30. Published online August 31, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12793

Liebenehm, S., I. Schumacher and E. Strobl (2023). Rainfall Shocks and Risk Aversion: Evidence from Southeast Asia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 10.1111/ajae.12403

Weyori, A. and S. Liebenehm (2023). Rainfall Shocks, Livelihood Diversification and Welfare: Evidence from rural Togo. Journal of African Economies. 10.1093/jae/ejad011

Quiñones*, E. J., S. Liebenehm and R. Sharma (2021). Left Home High and Dry - Reduced Migration in Response to Repeated Droughts in Thailand and Vietnam. Population and Environment 42(4): 579-621.

Weyori, A., S. Liebenehm and H. Waibel (2019): Returns to Livestock Disease Control - A Panel Data Analysis in Togo. European Review of Agricultural Economics, jbz031, https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbz031.

Liebenehm, S. (2018). Temporal Stability of Risk Attitudes and the Impact of Adverse Shocks - A Panel Data Analysis from Thailand and Vietnam. World Development 102 (2018): 262-274.

Best Paper Award at International Conference of the Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel 2022

Hermann Eiselen-Science Award for PhD Thesis 2016

Hans H. Ruthenberg Award for Graduates for MSc. Thesis 2009

I acknowledge funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Queen Elizabeth II Canadian Research Fund related to projects in Northern Alberta and West Africa, respectively. Past research has been funded by the German Research Foundation and the European Commission.

ECON 822 – Development Economics

AREC 428 - Case Studies in Agribusiness Management

ASKI 105 - Economics and Planning (Kanawayihetaytan Askiy Certificate)