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The purpose of this paper is to determine if there are positive microeconomic effects from a state‐funded loan participation program on farm productivity and investment behavior.

The authors take the approach that access to credit solves a liquidity problem. If a credit constraint exists it results in a suboptimal allocation of resources and a reduction in farm output and profitability. A two‐stage regression model approach is used to analyze farmer survey and loan application data. In the first stage, a probit regression model is used to identify the farmers who are likely to be credit rationed. In the second stage, switching regression models are used to observe the effect of credit rationing on farm productivity and on farm investment behavior.

It is found that there are liquidity effects of credit constraints for a significant share of the beginning and low‐resource farmers who participated in the state‐funded farm loan program. After controlling for various farm and farmer characteristics, the estimated productivity and investment demand equations imply that a 1 percent increase in credit received by credit constrained farmers under the state program increased their gross income by about 0.49 percent, and their investments in depreciable assets by about 0.33 percent.

This paper is the first to apply the switching regression model to a state‐funded farm loan program for the purpose of evaluating the financial impacts on farmer participants.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the probability of being a teleworker and the extent of earnings differentials between teleworkers and traditional employees.

The analysis is grounded on a theoretical framework depicting endogenous telework assignment and wage variations based on individual bargaining. The empirical strategy allows for non-random telework assignment, generating from individual- and job-specific observed as well as unobserved factors.

Results are based on the Italian labor force survey and uncover a key role of gender, higher education and family composition as determinants of the probability of teleworking. Furthermore, teleworkers enjoy a wage premium ranging between 2.7 and 8 percent.

Accounting for observed individual and job-specific effects, by both standard linear regression and propensity score matching, largely reduces the extent of wage premium emerging from unconditional descriptives; the results of an endogenous switching regression model however suggest that failing to properly care for unobserved factors leads to the underestimation of returns to telework.

This paper aims to build a theoretical model of the impact of farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures on the agricultural output to analyze the impact of farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures on agricultural output.

Based on the field survey data of 808 farmers households in three provinces (regions) of the Loess Plateau, this paper using the endogenous switching regression model to analyze the effect of farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures on agricultural output.

Soil erosion has a significant negative impact on agricultural output, and soil erosion has a significant positive impact on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation measures. Farmers adopt soil and water conservation measures such as engineering measures, biological measures and tillage measures to cope with soil erosion, which can increase agricultural output. Based on the counterfactual hypothesis, if farmers who adopt soil and water conservation measures do not adopt the corresponding soil and water conservation measures, their average output per ha output will decrease by 2.01%. Then, if farmers who do not adopt soil and water conservation measures adopt the corresponding soil and water conservation measures, their average output per ha output will increase by 12.12%. Government support and cultivated land area have a significant positive impact on farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures.

The research limitation is the lack of panel data.

Soil erosion has a significant negative impact on agricultural output, and soil erosion has a significant positive impact on farmers’ adoption of soil and water conservation measures. Farmers adopt soil and water conservation measures such as engineering measures, biological measures and tillage measures to cope with soil erosion, which can increase agricultural output.

The conclusion provides a reliable empirical basis for the government to formulate and implement relevant policies.

The contributions of this paper are as follows: the adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures and agricultural output are included into the same analytical framework for empirical analysis, revealing the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures and their output effects, enriching existing research. Using endogenous switching regression model and introducing instrumental variables to overcome the endogenous problem between the adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures and agricultural output, and to analyze the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation measures and its impact on agricultural output. Using the counter-factual idea to ensure that the two matched individuals have the same or similar attributes, to evaluate the average treatment effect of the behavior of soil and water conservation measures, to estimate the real impact of adaptation measures on agricultural output as accurately as possible and to avoid misleading policy recommendations.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of access to credit on maize productivity in Mali, by identifying the determinants of credit market participation and maize yield, and then estimating the impact of credit on maize yield.

This study analyzes the impact of credit on maize productivity using data from the World Bank 2014 Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) on Mali, and the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model.

The results suggest a positive effect of credit on maize yield in Mali. Farm size, production shocks and the female gender exert negative effects on credit market participation, unlike education, intercropping with cotton, male family labor and fertilizer use which show positive effects. Farm size has a negative effect on maize yield, but both male family labor, and fertilizer use exert positive effects. Although the use of credit improves agricultural yields, the results show a greater potential effect for rationed producers, than credit users.

These results suggest that implementing a credit strategy that allows those currently excluded from the credit market, to participate, could substantially increase productivity and maize production output in furtherance of the country's food security strategy. Gender-based targeting is needed to bridge the gender gap in access to credit.

As far as the authors are aware, this study is the first to explore the credit-farm productivity links in Mali, while addressing selection bias.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how credit access affects the welfare of households and sheds light on how household characteristics influence the decision to take credit and the efficiency in credit use.

This study uses data from the fourth round of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey conducted in 2009, and examines factors that determine the decision to take credit and the effect of such decision on household welfare. The household welfare variable is measured by the food security indicator and total food expenditure. The study employs endogenous Regime Switching model to account for endogeneity in access to credit and self-selection bias in the decision to participate in credit.

The result from the kernel distribution shows households with access to credit have more consumption expenditure than those without access to credit. The ordinary least square regression shows that access to credit increases total consumption by 12 percent without considering self-selection bias. Participation in non-farm activity increases the demand for credit by 17 percent. Land holding, household size, and participation in saving associations increase the probability of getting credit by 5, 11, and 20 percent, respectively. Access to credit appears to have a positive impact on food security in both actual and counterfactual cases for the current credit receivers.

This study provides a thorough analysis of the impacts of access to credit on household welfare in Ethiopia. The study contributes to the debate on the link between access to credit and household welfare and provides valuable input for policy makers.

Soil nutrient management and fertilizer use by farmers are important for sustainable grain production. The authors examined the effect of an experimental agricultural extension program, the science and technology backyard, in promoting sustainable soil nutrient management in the North China Plain (NCP). The science and technology backyard integrates farmer field schools, field demonstrations, and case-to-case counselling to promote sustainable farming practices among rural smallholders.

The authors conducted a large-scale household survey of more than 2,000 rural smallholders. The authors used a multivariate regression analysis as the benchmark to assess the effect of the science-and-technology backyard on smallholder soil nutrient management. Furthermore, the authors used coarse exact matching (CEM) methods to control for potential bias due to self-selection and the (endogenous) switching regression approach as the main empirical analysis.

The results show that the science-and-technology backyard program increased smallholders' wheat yield by approximately 0.23 standard deviation; however, no significant increase in maize yield was observed. Regarding soil nutrient use efficiency, the authors found a significant improvement in smallholders' phosphorus and potassium use efficiencies for both wheat and maize production, and a significant improvement in nitrogen use efficiency for wheat production, but no significant improvement of nitrogen use efficiency for maize production.

This study evaluated a novel participatory agricultural extension model to improve soil nutrient management practices among smallholders. The integration of agronomists' scientific knowledge and smallholders' local contextual experiences could be an effective way to improve farmers' soil nutrient management. This study provides the first quantitative estimates based on rigorous impact assessment methods of this novel extension approach in rural China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of credit constraints on agricultural productivity in China.

Using data from a rural financial survey, a switching regression model is used to account for endogeneity and heterogeneity. Carter presents three ways that credit might affect the production functions; a shift along a given production surface by allowing an optimal level of inputs, a shift the production surface out by allowing the purchase of more efficient inputs, and the third is to increase net revenue by more intensive use of fixed inputs and resources. Thus, the effects of factors on agricultural productivity may not be independent of credit status; therefore, separate functions for credit‐constrained and non‐constrained households are examined.

Empirical estimates of the impacts of credit constraints on agricultural productivity are provided for the Heilongjiang province, a major agricultural production area, in Northeast China. By removing credit constraints, average agricultural productivity was estimated to be increased by 75 percent. Under credit constraints, labor inputs, along with a farmers' education, cannot be fully employed because of an inappropriate mix of inputs.

Young farmers may not be able to leverage their comparative advantage for physically intensive farm work under credit constraints. Because of data limitations, the research does not include information on informal credit in the estimation, which may underestimate the effects of credit constraints.

This study provides an analysis of the impacts of credit constraints on rural household productivity for the Heilongjiang province, a major agricultural production region, in Northeast China.

The study aims to examine the impact of farmers’ actual adaptations on rice yields in the upland areas of Yunnan province, China.

The paper employs the simultaneous equations model with endogenous switching to investigate the different effects of adaptation strategies on rice yields achieved by adopters and nonadopters based on the cross-sectional data at farm level.

The results show that farmers’ access to government agricultural extension services significantly encourages rice farmers to make the adjustments in farm managements. The authors find that the adaptation strategies employed by farmers significantly increase rice yields. Adaptations adopted by upland farmers increase rice yields for both adopters and nonadopters, particularly for the nonadopters.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by focusing on farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in uplands of Yunnan using the primary household survey data. The results show the effectiveness of farmers’ adaptation adoptions on rice yields in uplands of Yunnan province.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of financial derivatives on profitability in agricultural banks. Agricultural banks are new to the derivatives market and are unlikely to use financial derivatives for risk speculation. Thus, the paper also provides evidence on the effectiveness of financial derivatives as a risk management tool in small commercial banks.

The authors use call report data from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for 2006, 2008 and 2010 to estimate an endogenous switching model to evaluate how profitability of derivatives user and non‐user agricultural banks is affected by different risk factors. This approach allows banks' endogenous choices to use financial derivatives to be accounted for, and to build a counterfactual analysis – what user banks' profitability would have been if they did not participate in the derivatives activities.

Results indicate that risk management through financial derivatives in agricultural banks is effective and profitability of derivatives user agricultural banks is less affected by credit risk and interest risk in the sample period. Derivatives' activities have improved agricultural banks' profitability and these impacts were increasing over years. In particular, in 2010 without use of derivatives, user banks would have had one‐third lower profitability.

This research is the first to study the role of derivatives in agricultural banks and also provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of risk management through financial derivatives in agricultural banks.

The Vietnamese Mekong River Delta (VMD) is one of the most affected deltas by climate change in the world. Several studies have investigated factors influencing farmers' climate change adaptation behaviors in the region; however, little is known about the effectiveness of such measures. This paper examines the determinants of adaptation strategies among VMD rice farmers and assesses the impacts of such practices on rice yield.

Endogenous switching regressions were employed using a survey data of 300 rice-producing households in An Giang and Tra Vinh provinces in 2016.

The results show that farmers receiving early disaster warnings are more likely to adopt adaptation measures to climate change. If nonadaptors had chosen to respond, their rice yield would have increased by 0.932 tons/ha/season.

The data sample is small and collected from two provinces in the VMD only; therefore, the results may be specific for the study sites. However, future research can adopt the proposed method for other regions.

The study estimates the production impacts of farmers' decisions on whether or not to adapt to extreme climate events. The proposed approach allows for capturing both observed and unobserved behaviors.