Many German farmers do no longer accept the annual premiums forthe state accident insurance, which sometimes reach a considerabledegree. The farmers are of the opinion that the specific accident riskof each farm has to be taken into account. So far, the agrarian professionalassociations as...

Since the mid-nineties, agricultural economists discuss the suitability of “weather derivatives” as hedging instruments for volumetric risks in agriculture. Contrary to traditional insurance contracts, the payoffs of such derivatives are linked to weather indices (e.g. accumulated rainfall...

This paper deals with the fiscally neutral transferability of profits from land sales according to § 6b EStG and its possible effect on the price for agricultural land. From the point of view of the single farm this tax norm has an excellent effect. Nevertheless, from the point of view of the...

The objective of this paper is to investigate the performance of different Value-at-Risk (VaR) models in the context of risk assessment in hog production. The paper starts with a description of traditional VaR models, i.e. Variance-Covariance-Method (VCM) and Historical Simulation (HS). We...

In his numerous textbooks WILHELM BRANDES has laid the foundation for theoretically appropriate modeling of farm firms, which has recently been expanded to modeling sustainability goals. The published research results belong to the fields of economic, ecological, and social sustainability....

This paper discusses the real options approach to investment. Real options facilitate an analysis of investment under uncertainty explicitly taking into account irreversibility of the investment decision and flexibility with respect to the investment timing. This is achieved by exploiting the...

This article deals with the optimal differentiation of agri-environmental contracts based on a self-selection mechanism. The paper demonstrates that both economic efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditures can be increased, if a menu of combinations of farming practices and payments are...

A great deal of attention is currently being paid to the discussion ofthe reform of global agricultural trade. In this paper, the effects ofthe revised Harbinson paper (March 2003) are analysed with anextensively extended GTAP model. With the help of a base run,projections are implemented in the...

The introduction of the current Common European Agricultural Policy in ten new member states in central and eastern Europe will be a major financial challenge for the European Union. On the basis of the partial equilibrium model ESIM this article analyses potential consequences of different...

The aim of this contribution is to examine how the French and theGerman positions on agricultural policy have developed since thefoundation of the EEC and what the driving forces were behind. The“general consensus” underlying the EEC treaty, and according towhich the common market would be...