IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/apecpp/v46y2024i1p169-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Race and premium misrating in the U.S. Federal Crop Insurance Program

Author

Listed:
  • Jim Teal
  • Andrew W. Stevens

Abstract

USDA farm support programs have an established history of racial discrimination. Today, the Federal Crop Insurance Program is among the largest and most important programs available to U.S. farmers. Previous research has documented systematic misrating of crop insurance premiums with sizable welfare implications. In this paper, we explore whether producer race measured at the county level has explanatory power in a model of crop insurance misrating. We find that in some cases it does, raising concerns about the possibilities of racially discriminatory impacts of the RMA's rate‐setting methodology. Further research is needed to isolate the mechanisms that explain our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Jim Teal & Andrew W. Stevens, 2024. "Race and premium misrating in the U.S. Federal Crop Insurance Program," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 169-188, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:46:y:2024:i:1:p:169-188
    DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13397
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/aepp.13397?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua D. Woodard & Gary D. Schnitkey & Bruce J. Sherrick & Nancy Lozano‐Gracia & Luc Anselin, 2012. "A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Loss Experience in the U.S. Crop Insurance Program," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 79(1), pages 261-286, March.
    2. Joyce E. Allen & Ralph D. Christy, 1992. "African Americans in Rural Society: Needed Directions in Public Policy," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(3), pages 826-833.
    3. Ashley Elaine Hungerford & Barry Goodwin, 2014. "Big assumptions for small samples in crop insurance," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 74(4), pages 477-491, October.
    4. Waymon R. Hinson, 2018. "Land Gains, Land Losses: The Odyssey of African Americans Since Reconstruction," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3-4), pages 893-939, May.
    5. Joseph W. Glauber, 2004. "Crop Insurance Reconsidered," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1179-1195.
    6. Bruce J. Sherrick & Peter J. Barry & Paul N. Ellinger & Gary D. Schnitkey, 2004. "Factors Influencing Farmers' Crop Insurance Decisions," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(1), pages 103-114.
    7. Joseph W. Glauber, 2013. "The Growth Of The Federal Crop Insurance Program, 1990--2011," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(2), pages 482-488.
    8. Martin Ruef, 2014. "Between Slavery and Capitalism: The Legacy of Emancipation in the American South," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10397.
    9. Woodard, Joshua D. & Sherrick, Bruce J. & Schnitkey, Gary D., 2011. "Actuarial Impacts of Loss Cost Ratio Ratemaking in U.S. Crop Insurance Programs," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Won Kim, Chong & Phipps, Tim T. & Anselin, Luc, 2003. "Measuring the benefits of air quality improvement: a spatial hedonic approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 24-39, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chengguo Weng & Lysa Porth & Ken Seng Tan & Ryan Samaratunga, 2017. "Modelling the Sustainability of the Canadian Crop Insurance Program: A Reserve Fund Process Under a Public–Private Partnership Model," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 42(2), pages 226-246, April.
    2. Woodard, Joshua D. & Chiu Verteramo, Leslie & Miller, Alyssa P., 2015. "Adaptation of U.S. Agricultural Production to Drought and Climate Change," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205903, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Paloch Suchato & Taro Mieno & Karina Schoengold & Timothy Foster, 2022. "The potential for moral hazard behavior in irrigation decisions under crop insurance," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(2), pages 257-273, March.
    4. Fabio G., Santeramo & Ilaria, Russo & Emilia, Lamonaca, 2022. "Italian subsidised crop insurance: what the role of policy changes," MPRA Paper 115299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Alexandre Gohin, 2019. "General Equilibrium Modelling of the Insurance Industry: U.S. Crop Insurance," Journal of Global Economic Analysis, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, vol. 4(2), pages 108-145, December.
    6. Helen Naughton & Pehr-Johan Norbäck & Ayça Tekin-Koru, 2016. "Aggregation Issues of Foreign Direct Investment Estimation in an Interdependent World," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(12), pages 2046-2073, December.
    7. Baylis, Kathy & Paulson, Nicholas D. & Piras, Gianfranco, 2011. "Spatial Approaches to Panel Data in Agricultural Economics: A Climate Change Application," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 325-338, August.
    8. Xiaodong Du & Hongli Feng & David A. Hennessy, 2017. "Rationality of Choices in Subsidized Crop Insurance Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 732-756.
    9. Erich Seamon & Paul E. Gessler & John T. Abatzoglou & Philip W. Mote & Stephen S. Lee, 2023. "Climatic Damage Cause Variations of Agricultural Insurance Loss for the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Burns, Christopher & Prager, Daniel, "undated". "Do Direct Payments and Crop Insurance Influence Commercial Farm Survival and Decisions to Expand?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235693, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Xiaodong Du & David A. Hennessy & Hongli Feng, 2014. "A Natural Resource Theory of U.S. Crop Insurance Contract Choice," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(1), pages 232-252.
    12. Mavroutsikos, Charalampos & Giannakas, Konstantinos & Walters, Cory G., 2018. "Crop Insurance under Asymmetric Information and Different Government Objectives," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273880, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Fabio G Santeramo, 2019. "I Learn, You Learn, We Gain Experience in Crop Insurance Markets," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 284-304, June.
    14. Mauro Vigani & Jonas Kathage, 2019. "To Risk or Not to Risk? Risk Management and Farm Productivity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 101(5), pages 1432-1454, October.
    15. Xiaodong Du & Hongli Feng & David A. Hennessy, 2017. "Rationality of Choices in Subsidized Crop Insurance Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 732-756.
    16. Rosch, Stephanie D., 2017. "Risk Attitudes of US Agricultural Producers," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258025, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Ramirez, Octavio A. & Shonkwiler, J. Scott, 2017. "A Probabilistic Model of Crop Insurance Purchase Decision," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 1-17, January.
    18. Enjolras, Geoffroy & Sentis, P., 2008. "The Main Determinants of Insurance Purchase: An Empirical Study on Crop Insurance Policies in France," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 44395, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Selene Perazzini, 2020. "Public-Private Partnership in the Management of Natural Disasters: A Review," Papers 2006.05845, arXiv.org.
    20. Yuyuan Che & Hongli Feng & David A. Hennessy, 2020. "Recency effects and participation at the extensive and intensive margins in the U.S. Federal Crop Insurance Program," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 45(1), pages 52-85, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:46:y:2024:i:1:p:169-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2040-5804 .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.