This paper discusses some of the failings of expected utility including the Allais paradox and expected utility's inadequate one dimensional characterization of risk. Three alternatives to expected utility are discussed at length; weighted expected utility, rank dependent utility, and cumulative...

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/18/08. Former title: Non-Linearity in Belief and Environmental Risk Dynamics

This paper assesses the impacts of decoupled government transfers on production decisions of a sample of Kansas farms observed from 1996 to 2001. Our model allows for risk, risk attitudes and the intertemporal investment decisions. We also allow for different adjustments of the decision...

Using county level data we study if weather and climate variables or variables used as proxies for rent-seeking behavior determine disaster payment in the Southeast. We do not find evidence of rent-seeking but find that, in addition to weather, long term climate variables affect disaster payments.

This study proposed a theoretical framework for analyzing farm capital structure choice. The theoretical model recognizes that the costs of debt are endogenously determined which in turn reflect the degree of credit constraint faced by individual borrowers. Based on the proposed model, we...

We report results from preliminary analysis of the recently constructed dataset from the Farm Service Agency, FSA 1614. FSA 1614 provides the location of the farm and the farm payment recipient for all Title I payments. This makes it possible to analyze the spatial dispersion between landowner...

Replaced with revised version of paper 10/17/08.

This study answers how profitability changes from a lender and borrower perspective. Using the FBFM data for periods from 1995 to 2004, we find that the variables that explain the profitability of a lender and borrower differ. Further, doing the regression according to categories, gives us...

We analyze the risks, returns and optimal adoption strategies for a representative Minnesota farm switching from conventional to organic cropping systems. The EPIC simulation model was calibrated based on the yields observed in a farming systems field study. A farm-level simulation model was...

Knowledge of low-income issues in floodplain management is spotty. Repeated flooding resulting from hurricanes striking North Carolina, and most recently Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, has raised concerns that vulnerable low-income communities may be more exposed to the devastating costs of...