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This article seeks to examine the reference yield calculation method used in crop insurance rating and provides recommendations that could potentially improve actuarial performance of the Federal crop insurance program.

Conceptual, numerical, and statistical analysis is utilized to evaluate the reference yield calculation method used in the US Federal crop insurance program.

The results suggest that reference yields, which at the time of this study are calculated using National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) data, do not accurately represent the average actual yields of the insured pool of producers in the Federal crop insurance program. In addition, it is found that not regularly updating these NASS‐based reference yields exacerbates this problem because these reference yields do not appropriately represent the current state of technological progress.

The empirical analysis leads this paper to recommend a reference yield calculation procedure that utilizes county‐average yields from the risk management agency (RMA) participation database and an approach that uses spatially aggregated average yields in cases when data for a particular county are sparse.

No previous study has investigated the reference yield calculation method in the Federal crop insurance program using both RMA and NASS data sets. Moreover, this study contributes to the small literature that examines various aspects of the actual production history (APH) rating platform and suggests refinements to improve actuarial performance.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the degree to which trends and structural change may have altered crop insurance expected loss cost ratios across time. Because loss experience is used to set rates for the program, these changes can impact the premiums paid by producers and cost to the government.

County level adjusted loss cost data was merged with climate division weather data for the 1980‐2009 period. Crop‐specific regional‐level regression models were estimated to test for trends and structural changes in the loss experience for major crops (corn, soybeans, sorghum, cotton, winter wheat, and spring wheat). Climate data was used to control for the effect of weather.

For several crops and regions, a significant break point in the loss cost data is found at 1995. This is consistent with the policy changes that occurred in in the program due to the 1994 legislative change. In most instances loss experience prior to 1995 is higher than more recent years even when controlling for the effect of weather. The exception is in winter wheat where it appears recent experience may be worse rather than older experience.

This paper provides a large‐scale assessment of the magnitude of improved crop insurance loss experience across time.

The purpose of this paper is to be an academic inquiry into rating issues confronted by the US Federal Crop Insurance program stemming from changes in participation rates as well as the weighting of data to reflect longer‐run weather patterns.

The authors investigate two specific approaches that differ from those adopted by the Risk Management Agency, building upon standard maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation techniques that consider parametric densities for the loss‐cost ratio.

Both approaches indicate that incorporating weights into the priors for Bayesian estimation can inform the distribution.

In most cases, the authors' results indicate that including weighting into priors for Bayesian estimation implied lower premium rates than found using standard methods.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the spatial components of producer heterogeneity in crop insurance product selection among US corn producers and identifies neighborhood spillover or agent marketing effects in these decisions.

County‐level insurance and yield data are used to demonstrate that a gradual shift from yield‐based insurance to revenue‐based insurance has spatial patterns. Conventional risk variables such as yield variability, price variability, prevalence of irrigation, other crops, and yield‐price relationships play an important role in this shift and are consistently estimated only when spatial components are included. A spatial random effects model is used to also identify the impact of spatial lag effects, which include neighborhood spillover and agent marketing effects, on the share of corn acres insured with revenue‐based plans vs yield‐based plans.

Theoretically consistent variables associated with risk are found to significantly influence the choice between crop revenue and yield insurance. Non‐linear parameters identify the region‐specific effects from changes in irrigation, yield price correlation, and the prevalence of corn production on insurance decisions. In addition, spatial components such as the decisions made by nearby producers and marketing drives are also found to influence decisions. These results may demonstrate the relative influence of trusted sources, such as nearby producers and insurance agents, on insurance decisions.

Traditional risk variables are consistently estimated by controlling for spatial heterogeneity. This study also reveals the propensity of producers to rely on the opinions of other producers or agents that they know.

Evidence of audit committee activity in the formative years of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad indicates that control and reporting activity developed long before the existence of regulatory mandate or the external auditing function. This is the earliest example of such an organized and continuing activity in American business history. With no previous business experience to model this enterprise, the organizers of the corporation put in place an audit committee of directors as a control device to safeguard assets and ensure proper handling of cash receipts and disbursements. Research into primary materials establishes that the committee not only performed regular routine audits of the “treasurer’s report,” but also identified and addressed critical problems of control and payment weaknesses. The discovery of the function of value‐for‐money (VFM) auditing by a committee of directors establishes historical context for today’s audit process and audit committee. Because the B&O was such an important entity, it influenced other railroads; and the railroad industry, in turn, greatly influenced the development of modern American businesses during the Industrial Revolution.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

New Zealand reintroduced titular honours (i.e. knighthoods and damehoods) in 2009. We document the prevalence of knights and dames on the board of directors.

We use a probit regression to investigate what firm characteristics are significantly associated with having a knight or dame on the board of directors.

We find 19 of 112 companies have a knight or dame on the board. These companies are bigger and have larger and more independent boards than other companies. We also find a knight or dame is more likely to serve in companies that have higher dividend yields.

The generalisability of our results is limited by the small number of knights and dames on the boards of listed companies and our archival regression approach. Although we document an association, we cannot prove causation.

We show that directors with greater and easily visible reputational capital are more likely to supply their services to companies that mitigate risks to their reputation and protect minority shareholder interests.

Born global firms undertake international business at or near their founding. In general, they are a type of highly international small and medium-sized enterprise. In the past two decades, born globals have emerged in substantial numbers worldwide, in conjunction with evolutionary trends in globalization and advanced information and communications technologies. In this paper, I summarize extant literature on born globals. I also address their role in the emergent field of international entrepreneurship and the linkage to national competitive advantage. Finally, I suggest numerous research directions on born globals, especially in the context of emerging markets.

This paper discusses Frank H. Knight's thought under three major themes, namely subjectivism, interpretation and social economics. Knight's economics starts with a conscious mind construct which is able to infer under partial knowledge. Conscious human action is purposive, forward looking and extends towards other individuals. Rejecting neoclassical positivism, Knight points to the need for economics to reconceptualize itself as an interpretative study, a methodology in the Weberian tradition. Furthermore, his allure for phenomenological economics opens a methodological possibility for the Austrian School of Economics. This paper concludes that Knight's insight earns himself a place in the history of subjectivist economics.