Investment decisions are, as a rule, characterized by uncertainty, irreversibility and flexibility. Simple net present value calculations will not account for these features. In many situations even flexible investment planning with decision trees, which represents the most advanced method of...

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...

In this paper we examine whether there is room for improvement in farm program decisions through the integration of formal mathematical optimisation into the planning process. Probing the potential for improvement, we investigate the cases of four Brandenburg cash crop farms over the last six...

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...

Bei der Abschätzung der Folgen verhaltenssteuernder politischer Maßnahmen mit Hilfe von Rational- Choice-Modellen, die von der Verhaltensannahme eines vollständig informierten und ausschließlich gewinnmaximierenden homo oeconomicus ausgehen, besteht die Gefahr, dass Art und Geschwindigkeit...

In the past decades, a great interest has emerged in understanding the nature of people’s well-being beyond consumption opportunities. It is widely believed that happiness research based on self-reports on people’s satisfaction with life has made a significant contribution to this...

Die Effizienzanalyse mit Hilfe der Data-Envelopment-Analyse (DEA) stellt ein weit verbreitetes Verfahren zur vergleichenden Einschätzung der empirischen Performanz von Entscheidungseinheiten (z.B. Unternehmen) dar. Angesichts „boomender“ Anwendungen auf eine Vielzahl...

Purpose – Often farmers do not switch to a new bank even if it offers better interest rates than the house bank. This can be attributed partly to transaction costs, and partly to bounded rationality. The purpose of this paper is to better understand farm borrowers by analyzing the role of...

Since the mid‐1990s, agricultural economists have discussed the relevance of index‐based insurances, also called “weather derivatives”, as hedging instruments for volumetric risks in agriculture. Motivated by the question of how weather derivatives should be priced for agricultural...