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Malting barley is an important specialty crop in the Northern Plains and growers mitigate risk with federally subsidized crop insurance and production contracts. The purpose of this paper is to quantify risks growers face due to “coverage gaps” in crop insurance that result in uncertain indemnity payments when their crop does not meet contract specifications.

A stochastic dominance model is developed to evaluate alternative strategies for growers with differing risk attitudes and production practices (irrigation vs dryland).

The results illustrate how alternative crop insurance provisions affect efficient choice sets for growers. Risk premiums for irrigated growers all point to valuations favoring more coverage, contracts, and malting option B. As the crop insurance industry matures in the functions it performs, it will become increasingly more important to address quality attributes.

This paper addresses quality issues and coverage gaps in crop insurance provisions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, present and compare agricultural production financing alternatives available to grain producers in South Africa. From the South African perspective, agricultural land cannot always be utilised as collateral and therefore alternative financing has developed.

The study makes use of an exploratory study by applying qualitative techniques. The research population was agricultural finance providers in South Africa and semi‐structured interviews were conducted with representatives of the sample.

The production financing alternatives identified and presented include: grain contract financing; grain contract financing with additional collateral; and corporate farming. A comparison of these alternatives indicates that although the traditional balance sheet financing is a cheaper form of financing, using agricultural land as collateral has a number of limitations, especially within the South African context.

Using agricultural land as collateral to obtain production financing is not always viable considering the present South African agricultural environment. Commercial grain producers should therefore consider the identified alternative production financing.

Limited research on agricultural production finance from the South African perspective has been performed. Furthermore, no previous research on identifying production financing alternatives without utilising agricultural land as collateral has been performed. This paper therefore provides new knowledge by combining South African practice with theory.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) start providing support to products that helped them in sustaining their business worldwide. The customers are entering into contracts with the OEM, to get the required level of performance but at minimum possible cost. It required the work distribution between OEM/service provider and the client, and may formalize through contract. The contract structure depends upon the number of player involved (customer, OEM and third party) and the support activity. The different contract alternatives can be formulated and the best one may be selected on the basis of minimum Life cycle cost. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this work, mathematical models are developed; which are implemented on a real life problem. The developed models are optimized in context to preventive maintenance schedule.

In this research, important issues are listed; research steps and mathematical models are presented. The problem has been identified from the literature perspective for mechanical systems. A methodology for formulating and selecting the optimal contract structure is also proposed. The model has been implemented on a real life problem, in which the OEMs provide support to their make installed at Compressed Natural Gas workstation in National Capital Region, India.

The research results of this paper will contribute both academic and empirical value.

This article is based on responses to the 1982 general invitation from the Review Board for Government Contracts. The authors' main contention is that the pricing of government contracts has hitherto been deficient in at least two fundamental respects — the use of the historic cost accounting model as a computational framework for the costing and pricing of non‐competitive Government contracts and the use of ex post accounting rates of return for estimating target rates of return.

The main purpose of this paper is first to discern the overwhelming influence of Kantian thought in the development of mainstream political economic doctrines. In this we will show that the Kantian philosophical influence has introduced an abiding element of duality in all matters of the western liberal theory of social contract and political economy. The nature of Kantian moral philosophy will be shown to have left the study of political economy by and large ethically neutral by treating the role of morals, ethics and values exogenously to the economic system. We will then introduce some substantive elements of an alternative approach to the treatment of ethics and values in the socio‐economic system. We will show that in the alternative approach to the study of social contract theory and political economy the ethical considerations appear as endogenous elements and strongly negate the Kantian principle of duality and individualistic rationalism.

A repair contract problem has been analysed. Each contract alternative implies in a specific cost of the contract and a commitment of repair time. The decision maker has to choose the best alternative, taking into account the consequences modelled through an additive utility function. These consequences consist of system performance and the cost of the contract. The system performance is represented by system interruption time. The solution corresponds to a contract which optimises the additive utility function. The paper presents formulation and derivations in order to find the solution. A numerical application of the decision model proposed is presented including a sensitivity analysis step.

Farmers' risk attitudes and risk perceptions play an essential role in shaping risk management strategies to address risks and uncertainties. Contract farming is considered as one of the feasible approaches to tackle farmers' concerns. However, risk perspectives under various categories have not been included in studies on farmers' preferences for contract farming in the literature, especially in Vietnam. This study aims to determine factors affecting farmers' choices of different contract farming practices.

The explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and multinomial logit model (MNL) were applied to explore the impacts of risk perspectives on farmers' preferences for contract farming. Data have been collected from 211 rice farmers in An Giang Province, “the rice bowl” of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

The study found that farm size, cooperatives, extension, market access and trust have significantly impacted on contract participation while a delay payment was a barrier for farmers' motivation to opt for the contract. Farmers' contract choices were also influenced by their risk attitudes and perceptions under different risk dimensions. The financial, policy and human risk-averse behavior predisposed farmers to single out the full contract while the policy and human risk-loving and production, market and finance risk-averse respondents were in favor of the marketing contract. Moreover, the findings indicated that the more farmers concerned about risk of weather and market, the more choices for the full contract, whereas the risk perceptions of weather and policy encouraged farmers to use the limited contract. By contrast, farmers who perceived the impacts of risk of diseases/pests and human were likely to adopt the marketing contract.

This study just focuses on collecting data from farmers’ perspective. Future studies involving stakeholders such as enterprises and policy makers are strongly recommended so as to design suitable contracts and enforce contract schemes effectively in Vietnam.

The findings also contribute to the literature on different types of contracts and the multidimensional aspect of risk for rice production in Vietnam.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of contingent labour in the construction and civil engineering sector in the UK.

The paper presents the findings of a national postal survey of employment practices within the UK construction and civil engineering sector. The survey was conducted in 2002 and covered firms of all sizes within the sector. This technique has been supplemented with in‐depth interviews to provide a deeper understanding of the issues raised.

The paper finds that employers' use of contingent labour is widespread and that in many cases, the use of contingent labour has increased over recent years. It is argued that recourse to the use of contingent labour may increasingly be a constrained choice for employers, reflecting overall labour shortages and recruitment difficulties in the sector. The paper also finds that the use of contingent labour contributes to skills shortages in the industry, with the scope of training offered to workers on these contract forms being limited in nature.

The paper reveals the complex relationship between the use of contingent labour and ongoing skills shortages in the sector. The paper concludes that the cycle of turning to contingent labour in response to recruitment difficulties does not replenish the skill profile of the sector and therefore offers no long‐term solution to the skills shortages within the construction industry.

To analyze the SEC’s newly adopted Rule 498 A, the variable contract summary prospectus rule, and concurrently adopted prospectus disclosure requirements in order to propose to insurance companies issuing variable contracts a project implementation plan for companies seeking SEC approval for summary prospectuses compliant with the new rules.

Discusses the history, requirements, effects, and expected implementation timeline of the new rules, then offers a detailed project plan and timeline for compliance.

The Rule does not require insurers to use summary prospectuses, but there are several compelling reasons for doing so. The Rule allows insurers to use a new concise and brief selling document, and by so doing to begin generating very significant cost savings as soon as May 1, 2021. The article provides a detailed implementation plan for insurance companies that want to comply with the new prospectus disclosure requirements and implement policies and procedures to begin using summary prospectuses.

A coordinated project implementation plan like that outlined in the article might assist insurance companies to make the requisite statutory prospectus revisions and prepare and obtain SEC approval of summary prospectuses by May 1, 2021.

Analysis from experienced attorneys who frequently advise insurance companies issuing fixed and variable annuities, and assist clients in navigating the complex regulatory requirements governing insurance and securities products.