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1 – 10 of 963The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of data aggregation and farm‐level crop acreage on the level of natural hedge, i.e. the level of price‐yield correlations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of data aggregation and farm‐level crop acreage on the level of natural hedge, i.e. the level of price‐yield correlations, which is an important issue in risk modeling and management.
Design/methodology/approach
Swiss FADN data for five crops covering the period 2002‐2009 are used to estimate price‐yield correlations at the farm‐ as well as on an aggregated level. Tobit regressions are used to estimate empirical relationships between the level of natural hedge and the underlying crop acreage.
Findings
Price‐yield correlations differ significantly between farm‐ and aggregated‐level. More specifically, the natural hedge observed at the farm‐level is much smaller, i.e. correlations are closer to zero. Taking correlations from aggregated levels thus leads to an underestimation of farm‐level revenue variability. Furthermore, it is found that larger farms have a stronger natural hedge. For instance, a 1 percent increase in area under maize and intensive barley leads to a change in the correlation by −0.02 and −0.08, respectively.
Practical implications
The natural hedge is often approximated with correlations observed at more aggregated levels, e.g. the county level. The results show that this implies errors in risk assessment and modeling as well as insurance applications. Thus, farm‐level estimates should be used. The here presented relationship between price‐yield correlations and farm‐level crop acreage can be used to derive better information on levels of the natural hedge.
Originality/value
Even though the effects of data aggregation on price‐yield correlations have been discussed in earlier research, this paper is the first to also account for on‐farm effects of underlying crop acreage on levels of natural hedge. It is found that this simple relationship can be useful in risk management and modeling applications.
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Nadja El Benni, Robert Finger and Stefan Mann
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of agricultural policy reform – specifically the change from market to direct payment support – on income variability of Swiss…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of agricultural policy reform – specifically the change from market to direct payment support – on income variability of Swiss farming households. In addition, the observed heterogeneity in income risks across farms and time is explained in terms of farm and regional characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
Unbalanced farm‐level panel data of the Swiss farm accountancy network (FADN) are used to construct coefficients of variation of five‐year overlapping time intervals for total household income and gross farm revenues over the period 1992 to 2009. Linear fixed effect models are applied to measure the effect of specialization, off‐farm income, direct payments, farm size, and liquidity on the variability of gross farm revenues and household income in the valley, hill, and mountain regions.
Findings
The switch from market‐based support to direct payments has decreased the variability of farm revenues and household income. The strong reliance on direct payments serves as insurance for most farmers and reduces both household income and revenue risk. Off‐farm income can be used by farmers to reduce household income risk but it increases revenue risk in the valley regions. In all of the regions considered, farm size has a positive effect on household income risk and a negative effect on revenue risk. A high degree of specialization increases both gross revenue and household income risk. Potential revenue insurance contracts should specify farmers' off‐farm employment, the degree of specialization, farm size, and regional specific risk profiles.
Originality/value
This paper assesses the complementary effects of specific farm characteristics and risk management strategies with regard to both farm revenue and household income risk. Influences of agricultural policy changes on income risks are also empirically assessed at different spatial scales.
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Robert Finger and Stéphanie Schmid
An approach that integrates biophysical simulations in an economic model is used to analyze the impact of climate change on Swiss corn and winter wheat production. Adaptation…
Abstract
An approach that integrates biophysical simulations in an economic model is used to analyze the impact of climate change on Swiss corn and winter wheat production. Adaptation options such as changes in sowing dates, changes in production intensity, and the adoption of irrigation farming are considered in the model. By carrying out sensitivity analysis with different scenarios, we find farmers’ adaptation actions and crop yeilds to be very sensitive to both climate change and output prices. Moreover, our model results show that simple adaptation measures are sufficient to generate higher and less variable crop yields in the future.
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Niels Pelka, Oliver Musshoff and Robert Finger
Maize production in China is exposed to pronounced yield risks, in particular weather risk, which is one of the most important and least controllable sources of risk in…
Abstract
Purpose
Maize production in China is exposed to pronounced yield risks, in particular weather risk, which is one of the most important and least controllable sources of risk in agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which weather index-based insurance can contribute to reducing the revenue risk in maize production caused by yield variations. An average farm producing maize is analyzed for each of eight Chinese provinces, six of which are part of the Northern Plains of China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are based on the Statistical Yearbook of China and the Chinese Meteorological Administration. The used method of insurance pricing is burn analysis. Hedging effectiveness of precipitation index-based insurance is measured by the relative reduction of the standard deviation (SD) and the Value at Risk of maize revenues.
Findings
Results reveal that precipitation index-based insurance can cause a reduction of up to 15.2 percent of the SD and 38.7 percent of the Value at Risk with a 90 percent confidence level of maize revenues in the study area. However, there are big differences in the hedging efficiencies of precipitation index-based insurance measured at different weather stations in the various provinces. Therefore, it is recommended for insurance providers to analyze the hedging effectiveness of weather index-based insurance with regard to the geographical location of their reference weather station if they would like to offer weather index-based insurance products.
Research limitations/implications
The absence of individual, long-term yield data in the study area prevents the evaluation of risk on individual farms. Thus, the hedging effectiveness can only be analyzed on an aggregated level of yield data and can rather be modeled for an average farm of a particular province.
Originality/value
To the author's knowledge, this paper is the first that investigates the hedging effectiveness of precipitation index-based insurance designed for reducing revenue risk of maize production in eight Chinese provinces.
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Leif Erec Heimfarth, Robert Finger and Oliver Musshoff
Since the 1990s, there has been a discussion about the use of weather index‐based insurance, also called weather derivatives, as a new instrument to hedge against volumetric risks…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the 1990s, there has been a discussion about the use of weather index‐based insurance, also called weather derivatives, as a new instrument to hedge against volumetric risks in agriculture. It particularly differs from other insurance schemes by pay‐offs being related to objectively measurable weather variables. Due to the absence of individual farm yield time series, the hedging effectiveness of weather index‐based insurance is often estimated on the basis of aggregated farm data. The authors expect that there are differences in the hedging effectiveness of insurance on the aggregated level and on the individual farm‐level. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the magnitude of bias which occurs if the hedging effectiveness of weather index‐based insurance is estimated on aggregated yield data.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on yield time series from individual farms in central Germany and weather data provided by the German Meteorological Service. Insurance is structured as put‐option on a cumulated precipitation index. The analysis includes the estimation of the hedging effectiveness of insurance on aggregated level and on individual farm‐level. The hedging effectiveness is measured non‐parametrically regarding the relative reduction of the standard deviation and the value at risk of wheat revenues.
Findings
Findings indicate that the hedging effectiveness of a weather index‐based insurance estimated on aggregated level is considerably higher than the realizable hedging effectiveness on the individual farm‐level. This refers to: hedging effectiveness estimated on the aggregated level is higher than the mean of realized hedging effectiveness on the individual farm‐level and almost every evaluated individual farm in the analysis realizes a lower hedging effectiveness than estimated on the aggregated level of the study area. Nevertheless, weather index‐based insurance designed on the aggregated level can lead to a notable risk reduction for individual farms.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first that analyzes the influence of crop yield aggregation with regard to the hedging effectiveness of weather index‐based insurance.
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This series of papers aims to explore the transition from higher education into work. It reports on research undertaken over a period of two years and which sought to track a…
Abstract
Purpose
This series of papers aims to explore the transition from higher education into work. It reports on research undertaken over a period of two years and which sought to track a number of young graduates as they completed their studies and embarked upon career of choice.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach adopted is defined and discussed as one of “common sense”. Alongside the notion of “common sense” the paper deploys two further concepts, “convention” and “faith” necessary to complete a rudimentary methodological framework. The narratives which are at the heart of the papers are built in such a way as to contain not only the most significant substantive issues raised by the graduates themselves but also the tone of voice specific to each.
Findings
Five cases are presented; the stories of five of the graduates over the course of one year. Story lines that speak of learning about the job, learning about the organisation and learning about self are identified. An uneven journey into a workplace community is evident. “Fragmentation” and “cohesion” are the constructs developed to reflect the conflicting dynamics that formed the lived experience of the transitional journeys experienced by each graduate.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst the longitudinal perspective adopted overcomes some of the major difficulties inherent in studies which simply use “snap shot” data, the natural limits of the “common sense” approach restrict theoretical development. Practically speaking, however, the papers identify issues for reflection for those within higher education and the workplace concerned with developing practical interventions in the areas of graduate employability, reflective practice and initial/continuous professional development.
Originality/value
The series of papers offers an alternative to orthodox studies within the broader context of graduate skills and graduate employment. The papers set this debate in a more illuminating context.
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November 25, 1971 Damages — Personal injuries — Crushing of dominant hand — Resulting deformity — Pain and suffering and loss of amenity — Prospective loss of earnings …
Abstract
November 25, 1971 Damages — Personal injuries — Crushing of dominant hand — Resulting deformity — Pain and suffering and loss of amenity — Prospective loss of earnings — Appropriate sum to be awarded as general damages.
Kazimierz Drabczyk, Robert Socha, Piotr Panek and Grzegorz Mordarski
– The paper aims to show application of the electrochemically deposited coatings for thickening of the screen printed electric paths potentially applied in photovoltaic cells.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to show application of the electrochemically deposited coatings for thickening of the screen printed electric paths potentially applied in photovoltaic cells.
Design/methodology/approach
The electric paths were screen printed with the use of silver-based paste. The paths were thickened by electrodeposition of thin copper layer in potentiostatic regime from surfactant-free plating bath. The morphology and surface quality of the paths were studied by imaging with scanning electron microscopy.
Findings
The electric paths can be thickened successfully, but quality for the screen printed substrate determines quality of deposited layer. The EDX analysis confirmed that the deposited copper layer covered uniformly the printed paths.
Research limitations/implications
The adhesion of the copper-covered path to the silicon wafer surface depends on adhesion of the original screen printed path.
Originality/value
This paper confirms that electrodeposited copper can be applied for screen printed silver paths thickening in a controllable way.
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Gwen Kuan-Wen Chen, Carole Tansley and Robert Chang-Chih Chou
The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: How does a self-initiated migrant (SiM)'s talent identity work operate in relation to their culture, the societies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: How does a self-initiated migrant (SiM)'s talent identity work operate in relation to their culture, the societies in which they live, their interpersonal relationships and their tacit knowledge development? and how can global talent management be re-imagined in light of this?
Design/methodology/approach
This co-constructed autoethnography is produced from reflexive, dyadic interviews and text “conversations” with an SiM doing “global talent identity work” and uses narrative analysis to investigate how liminal competence is developed across the life cycle.
Findings
This study shows how talent identity work is rooted in the lived, meaningful experiences of individual talent, from childhood to adult life in a pandemic. The authors add to knowledge about COVID-19 experiences of SiMs, uncover poignant examples of the role of migrant ethnic and knowledge discrimination and identify lessons for managerial practice in engendering liminality competence by combining global talent management and knowledge management.
Practical implications
Lessons are drawn for global talent management strategies that appreciate and support individual talent ethnic and knowledge inclusion of underappreciated migrant talent.
Originality/value
Examining the connection between talent identity work and liminality competence, the authors show how an individual's talent might be wasted through different forms of discrimination and highlight how ethnic discrimination during a pandemic points the way to positive changes in talent knowledge management initiatives. This study suggests ways in which ethnic and knowledge discrimination might be addressed through talent management strategies.
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This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The knowledge flow phenomenon in the form of entanglement and agential “cuts” within the workplace is studied and described across a phenomenological ethnographic case study of two workgroups within an aircraft engine manufacturing context.
Findings
The boundary construction phenomenon is a key process helping us to depict knowledge entanglement (tacit and explicit) across dialogue and non-verbal actions. Dialogue brings forth the aspect of knowledge as interpretations or “cuts.” A phenomenological analysis allows us to identify and describe various levels of tacit–explicit knowledge entanglement depending on the mode of coping at hand. Also highlighted was the importance of heuristics carried out by knowledge experts, often in the form of abduction (i.e. leading to rules of thumb).
Research limitations/implications
It is acknowledged that the relatively narrow context of the empirical work limits the ability to generalize the findings and arguments. As such, additional work is required to investigate the validity of the findings across a wider spectrum of workgroup contexts.
Practical implications
Agential realism allows for the analysis of organizations as a world of practice and actions, whereby long-established categories can be requestioned and challenged with the aim of sharing the full richness and benefit of embodied knowledge between human actors.
Originality/value
Ethnographic descriptions of the entwined nature of tacit and explicit knowledge, the embodied and activity-based dimension of knowledge and learning, as well as the characteristic of knowledge as possession, correspond well to an agential realist concept of phenomenon, entanglement and cuts. Furthermore, agential realism offers the opportunity to view the workplace as individuals (or groups) who act out embodied tacit-explicit knowledge in conjunction with non-human entities (such as objects, as well as communication and information technologies), with the latter acting as enhancers of knowledge creation and sharing.
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