A lot of research is carried out on the Contingent Valuation Method to assess environmental goods. However, the method is rarely applied to quantify reimbursements for agri-environmental policy. In this paper, this contradiction is explained by conceptual shortcomings of the Contingent...

Factor analysis and regression analysis is used to estimate population growth and migration into and out of rural agreas in Switzerland between 1990 and 2000. Farm households contribute to an above average birth rate. However, there is a net migration out of rural areas.

The efficiency of agricultural administration is analysed in this article by costs that arise in a region for administring one hectare farmland or one farm. Variances of these costs between regions can be explained by intra-organisational efficiency on the one hand and by inter-organisational...

The paper examines to which extent the theory of the farm household and the argument of path dependencies can be confirmed through recent empirical contributions on structural change in agriculture. In addition, a model is developed that explains structural change through occupational choices in...

Interviews with Swiss farmers lead to the hypotheses that production decisions, also in crop growing, are not made annually, but similarly to investment decisions in the long run. This hypothesis is backed by non-parametric time-series analysis for Switzerland and Germany. This creates a...