This paper analyses the role of risk and rate of time preference in the choice of land contracts.

Controversy over the EU import ban on food from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) forced the EU to change course and institute a mandatory labeling scheme. This study first examined how different policies for the production and use of GMOs might influence the market outcome in consumer food markets. Second, it evaluated the welfare effects of the policy measures, finding that mandatory labeling often increases both domestic welfare and global welfare, while trade bans more likely decrease global welfare.

The empirical analysis in this paper shows that production risk plays a significant role in sustainable land-management technology adoption in the Ethiopian highlands.

This examination of the impacts of market and institutional imperfections on technology adoption found that Ethiopian farmers’ decisions to adopt fertilizer significantly and negatively depended on whether they also adopted soil conservation, but not vice versa. Market imperfections were significant factors in explaining variations in decisions to adopt farm technology, such that relieving market imperfections could increase adoption of farm technologies.

Livelihoods in low-income developing countries are generally undiversified and focus on crop production and animal raising. These activities are inherently risky and investment and production decisions by farm households are therefore made within environments that are affected by risk.

Empirical evidence suggests that people’s risk-perceptions are often systematically biased. This paper develops a simple framework to analyse public policy when this is the case.

Using an experimental approach, we investigate the risk preferences of artisanal fishermen in Tanzania waters of Lake Victoria. The experiment concerns pairwise comparisons of hypothetical fishing trips that vary in expected mean and spread of the net revenue.

This study investigates the linkage between attitudes towards risk and adoption.

Individuals’ preferences for risk and inequality are measured through choices between imagined societies and lotteries.

Eishers are risk-averse according to most empirical studies, while expected-utility theory predicts risk neutrality even for sizable stakes.