This study examines the actuarial implications of the loss cost ratio (LCR) ratemaking methodology employed by the Risk Management Agency as a component of base rates for U.S. crop insurance programs, and identifies specific conditions required for the LCR methodology to result in unbiased rates...

Previous studies identify limited potential efficacy of weather derivatives in hedging agricultural exposures. In contrast to earlier studies which investigate the problem at low levels of aggregation, we find that better weather hedging opportunities may exist at higher levels of spatial...

A discrete-time, continuous-space model of a livestock- crop producer is used to examine the long-run effects of phosphorus runoff controls on optimal livestock production and manure application practices. Quantity restrictions and taxes on phosphorus application are shown to reduce livestock...

Concepts associated with stochastic process containing multiple transition matricies are discussed. It is proved that under certain conditions, a process with m transition matrices has m unique limiting probability vectors. This result extends the notion of discrete Markov processes to problems...

This article evaluates the effects of including the costs of bankruptcy in a dynamic model of off-farm investment decisions using a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model which incorporates the stochastic dynamic nature of investment returns and the interrelationships between financial...

The accuracy of producers' subjective probability beliefs is examined through a survey of large cash-grain farmers in Illinois. Findings reveal that their subjective probability beliefs about important weather variables are systematically mis-calibrated. The nature and extent of differences...

Estimates of country-level loan default distributions are developed and used in a loan guarantee model to value the contingent liability of USDA's General Sales Manager (GSM) export credit guarantee portfolio. The results quantify the relationship between increasing guarantee coverage and the...