Stochastic Production and Heterogeneous Risk Preferences: Commercial Fishers’ Gear Choices

Peer Reviewed
1 January 2004

American Journal of Agricultural Economics

We present a model of fishers’ gear choice, which allows for heterogeneity both in production technology and risk preferences and apply it on a panel of Swedish trawlers.

Stochastic revenue functions are estimated and used to predict the mean and standard deviation of revenue for each trip. In a random-parameters logit model, we test if these predicted values explain gear choice. A majority of fishers respond positively to increased mean and negatively to increased variability of expected landing values, indicating risk aversion, but also show a strong tendency to choose the same gear used on the previous trip.

Co-author:

Ragnar Tveterås

 

Topics
Country
Sustainable Development Goals
Publication | 1 February 2004