This paper presents an assessment of the linkages between crop genetic diversity, farm productivity and risk management. A flexible moment-based approach is used to analyse the impact of crop genetic diversity on the mean, variance and skewness of yield. Using farm-level data from Sicily...

This article investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy. Drawing production data from a household survey conducted in the highlands of Ethiopia, we...

This paper investigates the effects of crop genetic diversity on farm productivity and production risk in the highlands of Ethiopia. Using a moment-based approach, the analysis uses a stochastic production function capturing mean, variance, and skewness effects. Welfare implications of diversity...

This paper investigates the dynamic effects of rainfall shocks on agroecosystems productivity. The analysis estimates a panel data model of cereal production in southern Italy. It documents the adverse effects of a reduction in rainfall on the agroecosystem productivity both in the short run and...

This article investigates the economics of farm diversification. The analysis assesses economies of diversification using a certainty equivalent measure. It identifies two components: one associated with expected income, and one associated with risk exposure. This integrates two lines of...

Recently, financial assistance to farms has been widely under scrutiny. Agricultural assistance has an important impact on farmers' production decisions and those decisions in turn affect resources use or environmental quality. Surprisingly, the impact of agricultural policies on...

We analyse whether traditional sharing norms within kinship networks affect education decisions of poor black households in KwaZulu-Natal. Theory predicts that the size of the kinship network ambiguously impacts on the incentive to invest in human capital (due to opposing 'empathy' and...