Combining a standard measure of concern about low relative wealth and a standard measure of relative risk aversion … leads to a novel explanation of variation in risk-taking behavior identified and documented by social psychologists and … individual’s relative risk aversion decreases when he becomes more relatively deprived as a result of an increase in the average …

the optimum subsidy scheme that can insure a given take-up for a new weather insurance for rice producers. We build a …. Results show that the optimum current subsidy necessary to achieve a desired take-up rate depends on both past subsidy levels … and past payout rates, implying that subsidy levels should vary locally year-to-year …