The 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances provides robust information on the financing of small businesses including an overview of their firm’s organization, financial characteristics, and credit use. Information from the survey is used in this study to compare the financial characteristics...

Off-farm financial investments, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and certificates of deposit, can offer farmers significant opportunities for diversification. Moreover, deregulation of financial markets in the 1980s enhanced the ability of farmers to invest in these financial assets. This...

Results from a stratified, random, cross-sectional mail survey of 272 North Dakota agribusinesses found limited evidence of external credit rationing. Only 8 percent of the firms would be willing to pay a premium for additional financing. Consequently, credit rationing that did exist was...

Crude oil price speculation during 2000s could have increased installed capacity in corn ethanol plants beyond what was warranted by the market factors. We use Muth’s commodity pricing model and Flood and Garber’s tests to test for speculative investment in US corn ethanol industry. The...