The authors identify the key issues and concerns that arise in the design and rating of crop yield insurance plans, with a particular emphasis on production risk modeling. The authors show how the availability of data shapes the insurance scheme and the ratemaking procedures. Relying on the U.S....

The conventional functional form of the Constant-Elasticity-of-Substitution (CES) production function is a general production function nesting a number of other forms of production functions. Examples of such functions include Leontief, Cobb–Douglas, and linear production functions....

Public debt has surged during the current global economic crisis and is expected to increase further. This development has raised concerns whether public debt is starting to hit levels where it might negatively affect economic growth. Does such a tipping point in public debt exist? How severe...