In Switzerland a sudden policy uncertainty shock happened in February 2014 with the close and largely unexpected acceptance of a referendum aiming at limiting free movement of persons. The referendum requires Switzerland to reintroduce annual quotas for immigrants within three years. The...

In Switzerland a sudden policy uncertainty shock happened in February 2014 with the close and largely unexpected acceptance of a referendum aiming at limiting free movement of persons. The referendum requires Switzerland to reintroduce annual quotas for immigrants within three years. The...

Do transgenic crops cause agrobiodiversity erosion? We hypothesize that they increase productivity and reduce production risk and may therefore reduce farmer demand for on-farm varietal diversity, especially when only a few transgenic varieties are available. We also hypothesize that varietal...

The use of climate information in economic activities, typically provided by climate services, may serve as a possible adaptation strategy to changing climate conditions. The present paper analyzes the value of climate services aimed at improving agricultural productivity through a reduction in...

Separating the effects of uncertainty from realised events, and identifying the welfare effects of uncertainty, present a number of empirical challenges. Combining individuallevel panel data from rural Ethiopia with high-resolution meteorological data, we introduce a new proxy for income...

Do transgenic crops cause agrobiodiversity erosion? We hypothesize that they increase productivity and reduce production risk and may therefore reduce farmer demand for on-farm varietal diversity, especially when only a few transgenic varieties are available. We also hypothesize that varietal...

This paper investigates the relationship between risk aversion, crop diversification, and food security. In poor agrarian countries, farmers’ risk aversions are inherently linked to their food security. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to understand the mechanism through which...

This paper explores the different pricing strategies of lenders who originate both government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and non-GSE loans. We find that, conditional on loan and borrower characteristics and some observable local economic factors, mortgage rates on GSE loans vary significantly...

Hunger during pre-harvest lean seasons is widespread in the agrarian areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We randomly assign an $8.50 incentive to households in rural Bangladesh to out-migrate during the lean season. The incentive induces 22% of households to send a seasonal migrant, their...

In this paper we present and confront the expected outcome of an increase in risk on the regional or sectoral allocation of labor force and employment. The basic frameworks are the benchmark dualistic scenarios. A single-input analysis of a homogeneous product economy is provided. Uncertainty is...