The Laboratory of Forestry economics (LEF) was created in 2000 as a joint research unit of the French Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (ENGREF) and the National Institute of Agronomic research (INRA). The mission of the LEF is to conceive, develop, and transfer...

This article presents the results of an experiment designed to test theoretical predictions about the impact of public compensation schemes and ambiguity on insurance and self-insurance decisions. Consistent with theory, we find that government assistance significantly reduces willingness to pay...

The paper focuses on the choice of forest management strategies for natural hazards by nonindustrial owners, when forest provides nontimber services. We introduce a basic two-period model where the private owner hedges against natural hazards on his/her forest thanks to financial strategies...

Politicians have a tendency to compensate victims of natural disasters. This article explores the impact of such public relief programmes on a non-industrial private forest owner’s insurance expenditures or on forest management activities. We develop a theoretical model of insurance demand or...

Most decision-making research in economics focuses on individual decisions. Yet, we know, from psychological research in particular, that individual preferences can be sensitive to social pressures. In this paper, we study the impact of a group environment on individual preferences for risky...

In this paper, we build on the emerging literature on group decision-making to study the so-called ‘group shift’ effect, i.e., groups are less risk-averse than individuals. Our study complements past research in two ways. First, we study the group shift effect under two sources of...