This paper considers the potential for securitizing index-based insurance products that transfer weather and natural disaster risks from lower income countries. The paper begins with a brief overview of why markets for natural disaster risks are important in lower income countries and a review...

Federal policy-makers increasingly emphasize the Federal Crop Insurance Program as the primary federal risk management program for farmers. Farm leaders need to understand the underlying mechanics of insurance products if they are to effectively argue their interests and contribute...

This case study focuses on a coffee farmer in Guatemala who, given current low coffee prices, is worried about his ability to maintain the family tradition of coffee production. He wonders whether the current low prices are just another of the periodic downturns in the volatile coffee market or...

A dynamic-stochastic model is developed to evaluate preferences among alternative countercyclical payment programs for representative farms producing corn or soybeans in Iowa and cotton or soybeans in Mississippi. Countercyclical payment programs are found to not necessarily be preferred to...

Results are presented from a Web-based survey of instructors in agricultural economics and related departments about their use of, and attitudes about, classroom economic experiments.

This research investigates the potential effects of the standing disaster assistance program proposed in the Senate version of the 2008 Farm Bill. Results suggest no significant impact on producer crop insurance purchase decisions. Payments under the program should be expected to differ...