A new non-parametric method to estimate a decision maker's coefficient of absolute risk aversion from observed economic behaviour is explained. The method uses the expected value-variance (E-V) framework and quadratic programming. An empirical illustration is given using Norwegian farm-level...

A stochastic dynamic model was constructed to analyze investment decisions of an individual farmer under risk in the presence of irreversibilities, embedded technical change and indivisible capital. An analytical solution was obtained and its local behavior studied by numerical methods. Optimal...

Risk and uncertainty have been extensively studied by agricultural economists. In this paper we question (a) the predominant use of static frameworks to formally analyse risk; (b) the predominant focus on risk aversion as the motivation for considering risk and (c) the notion that explicitly...

The paper investigates the linkages between technological change and production risk, with an application to corn. The effects of technology on risk exposure are analyzed. We define technological progress to be risk-increasing (risk-decreasing) if it increases (decreases) the relative risk...

This paper examines risks and returns associated with soil conservation on hillside farms in the Philippines. Stochastic efficiency analysis is combined with a heteroskedastic regression model to assess the impacts of contour hedgerows on lowincome corn farms. Regression analysis indicates that,...

Many investment decisions of agribusiness firms, such as when to invest in an emerging market or whether to expand the capacity of the firm, involve irreversible investment and uncertainty about demand, cost or competition. This paper uses an option-value model to examine the factors affecting...

The paper develops and illustrates the application of criteria for ranking risky investment alternatives that are based on their certainly equivalent (cE) outcomes and determines expressions for approximating the cE outcomes by means of the central moments of their distribution. The paper...

This paper develops a theory of the family farm in conditions of uncertainty where attention is focussed on the labour-input decisions. Specifically, the farm family is faced with two labour decisions, namely with respect to hired labour and to family labour. The framework for analysis is...

The objectives of this paper are to incorporate a measure of risk aversion in the translog frontier cost function to estimate cost inefficiency. Risk-averse behaviour of farmers is hypothesised to reduce efficiency by leading to a situation in which the marginal value product of an input is less...

In applications of expected utility analysis, researchers are confronted with a choice among several utility functional forms. Subjective utility values and probability distributions for price and yield were elicited from Sri Lankan producers of minor export crops. Exponential quadratic and...