Rafael Bakhtavoryan, Ph.D. Associate Professor of AgriBusiness
- Faculty
A Conversation with Dr. Bakhtavoryan
What would you tell a student who is thinking about attending A&M-Commerce?
My discipline is Agricultural Economics/Agribusiness, and I like it a lot. In this discipline, I get to interact with numbers on daily basis as I do research. I enjoy doing that since at the end of the day numbers “come alive” and help me “read the story” that I have been trying to uncover with my research.
What has been your favorite course to teach?
My favorite class to teach has been Agricultural Economics. This is a very interesting class to teach since many different agricultural majors take it. As such, it presents a unique challenge for me to make this class appealing and useful to students with various backgrounds.
Tell us about a project you are currently working on or recently completed.
Currently, I am working on a project dealing with solar energy demand In the United States. The residential solar market has been growing steadily during the past decade, driven primarily by falling solar energy prices. This trend will indubitably continue into the near future, given the ever-improving solar panel energy-generating capacity and the resultant drop in solar energy costs. These unprecedented changes have major implications not only for solar energy consumption, but also for those of other energy sources and consumer welfare. As such, we evaluate the effects of the solar price changes on the residential consumption of natural gas, electricity, petroleum, solar energy and wood.
Educational Background
- Ed.D., Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, 2011
- M.S., Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, 2004
- B.S., Accounting and Audit, Armenian Agricultural Academy, 2001
Awards and Honors
- Chuck Arize Junior Faculty Award, 2020
Research Interests
- Applied Consumer Demand Analysis
Professional Organizations
Selected Publications
- R. Bakhtavoryan, Cheng, G, O. Capps, Jr., and S. Dharmasena. “A Household-Level Demand System Analysis of Nuts in the United States.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 51, 2022:283-310.
- R. Bakhtavoryan and V. Hovhannisyan. “Quantifying the Structure of Residential Water Demand in the United States: A Generalized Exact Affine Stone Index Demand Framework.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 2021:1-18.
- R. Bakhtavoryan, V. Hovhannisyan, S. Devadoss, and J.A. Lopez. “An Empirical Evaluation of Egg Demand in the United States.” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 53, 2021:280-300.