The spatial lag specification is often used in spatial econometrics. The choice of an appropriate spatial weighting matrix is an important outstanding methodological problem in the quantitative spatial dependence literature. This paper proposes applying a component-wise model-boosting algorithm...

This paper tests whether the Law of Proportionate Effects (Gibrat, 1931), which states that farms grow at a rate that is independent of their size, holds for the dairy farms in Northern Ireland. Previous studies have tended to concentrate on testing whether the law holds for all farms. The...

The expected utility approach to decision making advocates a probability vision of the world and labels any deviation from it ‘irrational’. This paper reconsiders the rationality argument and argues that calculating risks is not a viable strategy in an uncertain world. Alternative strategies...

The paper discusses some of the problems of subsistence agriculture in countries in transition and proposes a methodology for analysis. It demonstrates that approaches which ignore the dualistic agriculture structure cannot provide consistent estimates of the behavioural parameters of the total...

The paper demonstrates the effects that the largely ignored, phenomenon of subsistence farming can have on agricultural development in countries in transition. The problem of subsistence consists of the different economic behaviour of subsistence farms compared to commercial ones. The paper...

When analysing food consumption data a number of problems arise when one departs from the comparative statics of conventional demand theory. Two of these properties, non-linearity and non-stationarity present a major challenge for econometric modelling. A new method for time series analysis,...

The paper considers the problem of subsistence and semi-subsistence farming in Central and Easter Europe. The latter is analysed in terms of the institutional characteristics of the transition process. The concepts of institutions and institutional change are clarified and subsistence...

Economic theory suggests that coupled and decoupled direct payments have different impacts on agricultural rental values because of the different production responses associated with these payments. This study investigates the impact of both coupled and decoupled EU CAP direct payments on rental...

Trade-offs arise between spatial dependence and choice of functional form in agricultural land price hedonic models. We discuss these trade-offs and how they can create spurious spatial dependence. Using a land sales dataset with apparent spatial dependence, we implement a semiparametric...