Case Studies

Call for Proposals

AAEA welcomes proposals for Case Studies for the 2026 AAEA Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. Case Studies in this Invited Paper session may be published in the Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR) in January 2027, subject to review. Proposals from individuals or groups need to be submitted using AAEA’s online submission system by 11:59 pm Central on December 3, 2025. In light of the government shutdown, the deadline has been extended to 11:59 pm Central on January 14, 2026 January 21, 2026 to allow additional time for proposals. Early submissions are encouraged when feasible.

Proposals are requested for case studies that show how the application of economic principles to decision making in the public and/or private sectors leads to better decisions. Any topic area that illustrates the application of economic principles is acceptable. Topic areas focusing on emerging issues such as: renewable ingredients, energy economics, food safety, and company environmental policies (e.g., green scorecard) are encouraged.

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Deals with a problem that has a high level of importance/interest/relevancy to members of AAEA
• Clear and concise teaching objective(s) and target audience(s) (e.g. undergraduate students, graduate students, extension audiences)
• Case summary that presents solutions and explanations of how the learning objectives are realized
• Leads to a better understanding of how the application of economic principles improves decision making
• A general description of the teaching plan for presenting the case to include expected student use of reference materials 

Proposals should include the case study title, author names, contact information of the authors, and a case study outline that covers the company or situation profiled, as well as a detailed outline for the case study. The outline should be 3–5 pages in length and a maximum of 2,000 words. The proposal must also contain an outline and ideas for a teaching note, although the teaching note will not be published with the case study.  Of the cases submitted, three winning case submissions will be accepted for presentation at the AAEA Annual Meeting by March 31, 2026.

Selected Case Studies (with teaching note when applicable) should be completed by April 8, 2026. These completed versions will be reviewed by the Invited Case Study Committee, and feedback to improve the cases will be provided to the author(s). Final versions of the cases must be submitted to AAEA by May 13, 2026. If the authors wish the case study to be reviewed for publication in the AETR, it should also be submitted to the AETR Editor by May 13, 2026.  Accepted papers will carry a footnote that indicates they were subject to an expedited review process.

Examples of appropriate cases can be found in the agricultural and applied economics literature including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (issues 94 (2) and 93 (2)), International Food and Agribusiness Management Review and the Journal of the Food Distribution Research Society. There are many ways to write a case. One set of guidelines for decision cases can be found at: https://www.ifama.org/submission-guidelines

If you have any questions about submitting a Case Study Proposal, please contact the AAEA Business Office Staff at info@aaea.org or at (414) 918-3190.

Please visit the AAEA Annual Meeting Website for more information about the annual meeting.