Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

The impact of decoupled payments on the cost of operating capital

Contents:

Author Info

  • Jaclyn D. Kropp
  • James B. Whitaker
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how decoupled direct payments, paid to farm operators based on historical yields and base acreage, may lead to production distortions by altering a farmer's access to credit or enabling the farmer to receive more favorable credit terms. The authors estimate the impact of decoupled direct payments under the 2002 Farm Bill on the credit terms of farm operators, specifically the interest rate on short-term operating loans. If farm operators are able to obtain more favorable credit terms and reduce their operating cost, then this offers an additional mechanism through which decoupled payments may distort current production. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate the impact of decoupled direct payments on the interest rate on short-term operating loans. In the analysis, the authors control for farm financial characteristics, farm operator characteristics, and other factors. Data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey for the years 2005-2007, are used in the weighted regression analysis. Jackknifed standard errors are also computed. Findings – As the proportion of base acres to total operated acres increases it is found that interest rates decline by a small but statistically significant amount. This implies that direct payments lead to lower operating costs through better credit terms. Research limitations/implications – Lower operating costs may in turn allow some farmers to expand production or produce on land that would otherwise be unprofitable to operate and hence left idle. Ultimately, this distorts current production. However, the small magnitude of the authors' results suggests that the reduction in interest rates, though positive, may have limited distortionary impacts. Originality/value – The paper provides evidence that decoupled payments alter a farm operator's credit terms and hence could lead to current production distortions. The paper contributes to the growing body of research investigating the mechanisms by which decoupled payments have the potential to distort current production.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0002-1466&volume=71&issue=1&articleid=1923985&show=abstract
    Download Restriction: Cannot be freely downloaded

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Bibliographic Info

    Article provided by Emerald Group Publishing in its journal Agricultural Finance Review.

    Volume (Year): 71 (2011)
    Issue (Month): 1 (May)
    Pages: 25-40

    as in new window
    Handle: RePEc:eme:afrpps:v:71:y:2011:i:1:p:25-40

    Contact details of provider:
    Web page: http://www.emeraldinsight.com

    Order Information:
    Postal: Emerald Group Publishing, Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA, UK
    Email:
    Web: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/afr.htm

    Related research

    Keywords: Cost of capital; Credit; Farms; Payments; United States of America;

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Rucker, Randal R & Thurman, Walter N & Sumner, Daniel A, 1995. "Restricting the Market for Quota: An Analysis of Tobacco Production Rights with Corroboration from Congressional Testimony," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 142-75, February.
    2. Hennessy, David A., 1998. "The Production Effects of Agricultural Income Support Policies Under Uncertainty," Staff General Research Papers 1207, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Sergio H. Lence & Ashok K. Mishra, 2003. "The Impacts of Different Farm Programs on Cash Rents," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(3), pages 753-761.
    4. Baltensperger, Ernst, 1978. "Credit Rationing: Issues and Questions," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 10(2), pages 170-83, May.
    5. Daniel A. Sumner & Christopher A. Wolf, 1996. "Quotas without Supply Control: Effects of Dairy Quota Policy in California," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(2), pages 354-366.
    6. Jaffee, Dwight & Stiglitz, Joseph, 1990. "Credit rationing," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 837-888 Elsevier.
    7. Joe Dewbre, 2006. "The Impact of Coupled and Decoupled Government Subsidies on Off-Farm Labor Participation of U.S. Farm Operators," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(2), pages 393-408.
    8. Bhaskar, Arathi & Beghin, John C., 2007. "Decoupled Farm Payments and the Role of Base Acreage and Yield Updating Under Uncertainty," Staff General Research Papers 12851, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    10. Blandford, David & de Gorter, Harry & Harvey, David, 1989. "Farm income support with minimal trade distortions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 268-273, August.
    11. C. Edwin Young & Paul C. Westcott, 2000. "How Decoupled Is U.S. Agricultural Support for Major Crops?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(3), pages 762-767.
    12. Barrett E. Kirwan, 2009. "The Incidence of U.S. Agricultural Subsidies on Farmland Rental Rates," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(1), pages 138-164, 02.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as in new window

    Cited by:
    1. Todd Kuethe & Mitch Morehart, 2012. "The Agricultural Resource Management Survey: An information system for production agriculture," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 72(2), pages 191-200, July.

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:afrpps:v:71:y:2011:i:1:p:25-40

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Chris Harris).

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.