This study compares risk attitudes of smallholder farmers elicited from two different lottery designs (i) with fixed payoffs and changing probabilities and (ii) with fixed probabilities and changing payoffs. We utilize a combination of experimental and household survey data collected from 332...

In order to stimulate investments, agricultural policies frequently use price floors, which guarantee a price above a certain limit. In some cases, however, a price floor does not have the desired effects. In this study, we experimentally analyse differences in the investment behaviour with...

Using a unique dataset of a commercial microfinance institution (MFI) in Tanzania this paper investigates first whether agricultural firms have a different probability to get a loan and whether their loans are differently volume rationed than loans to non-agricultural firms. Second, we analyze...

This study analyzes the explanatory potential of the real options approach (ROA) regarding the reluctance of Kazakhstani farmers to invest in modern dairy farming. More precisely, it compares the valuation of the ROA with those of the classical investment criterion such as the net present value...

Restrictive irrigation water policies established due to e.g. environmental concerns or water scarcity appear to result in declining farm income and arising risk exposure in terms of yield uncertainty. With this in mind, we investigate the potential of index-based weather insurance, which is...

Short rotation coppice (SRC) is an interesting economic alternative to agricultural land use. Nevertheless, farmers often do not switch to SRC. Thus, it seems like the farmers do not act according to the classical investment theory. A relatively new approach which can help to explain farmers’...

Financial institutions still neglect to address agricultural clients. The main reasons for that are their perception that farmers bear higher risks than non-farmers and that their loan products are inadequate to accommodate the needs of agricultural entrepreneurs. As a result, many farmers still...

Despite the existing literature, it is still unclear whether and to what extent the behavior of forestry decision-makers can be predicted by means of normative models. To date, the actual decision-making behavior regarding logging has hence been only derived from the analysis of data gathered in...

Agri-environmental measures are often not as accepted among farmers as expected. The present study investigates whether changes in income risks and the individual risk attitudes of farmers may constitute an explanatory approach for the low acceptance of the measures. For this purpose, a...

Farmers do not often change from their house bank to another bank, even if the competing banks offer better conditions. This “reluctance to switch” can be explained, on the one hand, by the transaction costs resulting from such a change of business relation. On the other hand, it may be the...