Professor Shively conducts nationally and internationally recognized research on agricultural development and the environment. His research focuses on the links among poverty, land and labor use, and natural resource management in developing regions of the world. His interests also include the environmental and distributional implications of sectoral and macroeconomic policies, and dynamic household models incorporating risk. Prof. Shively's international experience includes research in numerous African and Asian countries.

Prof. Shively has been designated a University Faculty Scholar and is the 2007 recipient of Purdue’s Agricultural Research Award. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Agricultural Economics, the flagship journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and serves on the Editorial Policy Boards of the journals Land Economics and Environment and Development Economics.