This paper assesses the impacts of decoupled government transfers on production decisions of a sample of Kansas farms observed from 1996 to 2001. Our model allows for risk, risk attitudes and the intertemporal investment decisions. We also allow for different adjustments of the decision...

The main area of focus in this paper is variation across regions and over time in the U.S. as estimated by different food price data sets. There are a variety of potential sources for food price data, but it is important to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of the data sources in...

Using county level data we study if weather and climate variables or variables used as proxies for rent-seeking behavior determine disaster payment in the Southeast. We do not find evidence of rent-seeking but find that, in addition to weather, long term climate variables affect disaster payments.

Growing farm size has generally been explained by technological advances that have allowed farmers to substitute capital for labor. Another possible factor in explaining recent farm size is the demographic shift: the age distribution of farmers has shifted to the right and older farmers...

Contractual breaches are very common in developing countries such as China. In order to prevent breaches of contract, the contractual designs between farmers and agricultural processors (Dragon Head Firms) in China are innovating in two ways: organizational innovations and contractual...

We compare the ability of three preference elicitation methods (hypothetical choices, non-hypothetical choices, and non-hypothetical rankings) and three discrete-choice econometric models (the multinomial logit, the independent availability logit, and the random parameter logit) to predict...

Previous attempts at identifying and estimating a time-varying risk premium in the cocoa futures market yielded conflicting results. Using a longer series that includes the most recent cash and futures data, the existence of a time-varying risk premium in the cocoa futures market is...

According to Ricardian rent theory, the value of farm assets is equal to the discounted present value of future expected net rents from farm returns, and the discounted expected value of the land if converted to nonfarm development. Some recent research has considered modifying this standard...

Replaced with revised version of paper 10/17/08.

The economic viability of alternative and more sustainable agriculture farming systems depend on the value of farm profits. These values may be estimated through short or long-run of profit maximization, but there is a difference in these methods. In short-run profit maximization the...