Farmers do not often change from their house bank to another bank, even if the competing banks offer better conditions. This “reluctance to switch” can be explained, on the one hand, by the transaction costs resulting from such a change of business relation. On the other hand, it may be the...

Since the mid-nineties, agricultural economists discuss the suitability of “weather derivatives†as hedging instruments for volumetric risks in agriculture. Contrary to traditional insurance contracts, the payoffs of such derivatives are linked to weather indices (e.g. accumulated...

Since the mid-nineties, agricultural economists discuss the suitability of “weather derivatives” as hedging instruments for volumetric risks in agriculture. Contrary to traditional insurance contracts, the payoffs of such derivatives are linked to weather indices (e.g. accumulated rainfall...

We analyze the effects of prior gain and loss experiences on individuals’ behavior in two coordination games: battle of the sexes and simultaneous market entry. We propose subjectively transformed games that integrate elements of prospect theory, aggregation of prior and subsequent payoffs,...

This paper examines the effect of labor organization on integrated pest management (IPM), using cross section data collected from a participatory farming system survey of 157 durian growers in Chanthaburi, Thailand, in 2005. In contrast to many studies of IPM adoption, this work uses the form of...

Replaced with revised version of paper 5/26/11.

Der Agrarstrukturwandel ist mit Anpassungsprozessen verbunden, die oftmals mit größten-teils fremdfinanzierten Investitionen einhergehen. Eine Folge davon sind sinkende Eigenkapi-talquoten in landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben. Somit ist zu erwarten, dass die Bedeutung der finanziellen...

On the example of a commercial microfinance institution (MFI) in Tanzania this paper investigates first whether agricultural firms have a different probability to get a loan and whether their loans are differently volume rationed than loans to non-agricultural firms. Second, we analyze whether...