Few attempts have been made to estimate production functions for the Australian grazing industries. The question of the nature of the effect of input levels on production risk has been broached even more rarely. Previous investigators had to employ models and methods of estimation which embody...

Project appraisal under uncertainty should, in general, be worked in terms of carefully computed expected or mean values of uncertain elements. The major exceptions are when: (a) project returns are large relative to national income; or (b) project returns are highly correlated with other...

A method is developed for assessing the monetary value of additional information in the framework of a response process which involves interaction between controlled and uncontrolled factors. The method is illustrated through an analysis of the value of a rainfall predictor in determining...

A planning methodology is developed based on Monte Carlo sampling of plans and sorting out inefficient plans according to the rules of stochastic dominance. Illustrations and methodological comparison are made in a context of farm planning under risk, and an application in income stabilization...

While the role of technical change in agriculture is seen differently by protagonists of different theories of development, the processes of technology generation and uptake are widely seen as progressive. In this vein, agricultural technology assessment is seen as contributing to research...

Interdependence has always been central to economics but assumes pressing importance for agricultural economists as they deal with industrialising agricultures. Continued unresolvable uncertainties, when properly recognised, also add to the challenge of relevant work in agricultural economics....

Attitudes toward risk are explored for a sample of rice growers on small farms in Nepal, in the context of the subjective expected utility maximisation model. Farmers are found to be generally averse to risk, with diverse levels of absolute risk aversion that tend to diminish as wealth...

Variable performance over time is an important feature of wool growing in the eastern pastoral zone of Australia. An analysis of time series data from the Australian Sheep Industry Survey indicates that standard deviation of net farm income is related more or less linearly to size of firm and...

The implications of alternative disturbance specifications in supply functions have been considered in recent theoretical work but little, if any, empirical evidence has been provided on such specifications. Any empirical investigation of the nature of a supply function disturbance is hampered...