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Digging into Background Risk: Experiments with Farmers and Students

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  • David H. Herberich
  • John A. List

Abstract

The article reports on a study that provides understanding of how risk preferences and other factors influence a farmer's decision to participate in a carbon offset market. It states incorporating background risk in a laboratory setting and drawing subjects from both a standard student population and a nonstandard farmer population helped to understand the decision making process. The study suggests that farmers are slightly more risk averse than students.
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Suggested Citation

  • David H. Herberich & John A. List, 2012. "Digging into Background Risk: Experiments with Farmers and Students," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(2), pages 457-463.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:94:y:2012:i:2:p:457-463
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ajae/aar070
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    1. repec:feb:framed:0074 is not listed on IDEAS
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    3. Hermann, Daniel & Rüther, Dörte & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2015. "Die Zeitpräferenz von Landwirten," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 69(4), pages 396-417.
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    5. Hermann, Daniel & Mußhoff, Oliver & Rüther, Dörte, 2015. "Measuring farmers’ time preference – A comparison of methods," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260784, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    6. Sauter, Philipp & Hermann, Daniel & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2015. "Risk attitudes of foresters, farmers and students: An experimental multimethod comparison," DARE Discussion Papers 1514, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    7. Timothy N. Cason & Steven Y. Wu, 2019. "Subject Pools and Deception in Agricultural and Resource Economics Experiments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(3), pages 743-758, July.
    8. Luisa Menapace & Gregory Colson & Roberta Raffaelli, 2016. "A comparison of hypothetical risk attitude elicitation instruments for explaining farmer crop insurance purchases," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 43(1), pages 113-135.
    9. Collin Weigel & Laura A. Paul & Paul J. Ferraro & Kent D. Messer, 2021. "Challenges in Recruiting U.S. Farmers for Policy‐Relevant Economic Field Experiments," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 556-572, June.
    10. Marianne Lefebvre & Estelle Midler & Philippe Bontems, 2020. "Adoption of Environment-Friendly Agricultural Practices with Background Risk: Experimental Evidence," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(2), pages 405-428, July.
    11. Denise Peth & Oliver Mußhoff, 2020. "Comparing Compliance Behaviour of Students and Farmers. An Extra‐laboratory Experiment in the Context of Agri‐environmental Nudges in Germany," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 601-615, June.
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    14. Nagler, Amy M. & Menkhaus, Dale J. & Bastian, Christopher T. & Ehmke, Mariah D. & Coatney, Kalyn T., 2013. "Subsidy Incidence in Factor Markets: An Experimental Approach," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 17-33, February.
    15. Mickael Beaud & Marc Willinger, 2015. "Are People Risk Vulnerable?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(3), pages 624-636, March.
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    17. Lefebvre, Marianne & Midler, Estelle & Bontems, Philippe, 2020. "Adoption of environmentally-friendly agricultural practices with background risk: experimental evidence," TSE Working Papers 20-1079, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    18. Marc Willinger & Mohamed Ali Bchir & Carine Heitz, 2013. "Risk and time preferences under the threat of background risk: a case-study of lahars risk in central Java," Working Papers 13-08, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised May 2013.
    19. Stephanie Rosch & Sharon Raszap Skorbiansky & Collin Weigel & Kent D. Messer & Daniel Hellerstein, 2021. "Barriers to Using Economic Experiments in Evidence‐Based Agricultural Policymaking," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 531-555, June.
    20. Peth, Denise & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2018. "Comparing compliance behaviour of students and farmers: Implications for agricultural policy impact analysis," DARE Discussion Papers 1809, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    21. Mohamed Ali Bchir & Marc Willinger, 2013. "Does the exposure to natural hazards affect risk and time preferences? Some insights from a field experiment in Perú," Working Papers 13-04, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised Mar 2013.
    22. Marianne Lefebvre & Estelle Midler & Philippe Bontems, 2020. "Adoption of environment-friendly agricultural practices with background risk: experimental evidence," Post-Print hal-03050486, HAL.
    23. Hermann, Daniel & Musshoff, Oliver, 2016. "Measuring time preferences: Comparing methods and evaluating the magnitude effect," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 16-26.
    24. Stefanos A. Nastis & Konstadinos Mattas & George Baourakis, 2019. "Understanding Farmers’ Behavior towards Sustainable Practices and Their Perceptions of Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-13, March.
    25. Joshua D. Woodard & Leslie Verteramo Chiu & Gabriel Power & Dmitry Vedenov & Steven Klose, 2017. "Factors Affecting Changes in Managerial Decisions," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 443-465, June.

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