Scale, productivity growth and risk response under uncertainty

[EN] This study focuses on the analysis of the production behavior and risk preferences in the presence of output price uncertainty. Following a theoretical model based on the assumption of maximization of expected utility of profits, the approach used in this study infers information about risk pre...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hranaiova, Jana, Stefanou, Spiro E.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2002
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/109905
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/109905
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Uncertainty
Risk Aversion
Productivity Growth
Incertidumbre
Aversión al Riesgo
Incremento de la Producción
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] This study focuses on the analysis of the production behavior and risk preferences in the presence of output price uncertainty. Following a theoretical model based on the assumption of maximization of expected utility of profits, the approach used in this study infers information about risk preferences from the production characteristics of the farm. In addition, the nonparametric method of estimating elasticity of scale and technical change eliminates the need to impose a uniform production or cost functions on individual producers. The approach is applied to a panel of dairy farms, which are evaluated for their elasticity of scale and the total productivity growth components of their operations. Estimates of farmers' risk attitudes represented by individual marginal risk premiums are also related to socio-economic attributes of farmers. Overall, farm size plays an important role in explaining productivity and scale differences and has the most significant negative effect on marginal risk aversion. The magnitude of the impact of additions to the farm's dairy herd increases with scale of operations.