Theory

Perhaps the title is a mischaracterization because, speaking for myself here and not necessarily my coauthors, these papers were motivated by very applied problems. The interest in formally modeling information as an input came from the realization that genetic and remote sensing technologies might best be viewed as information inputs. The interest in stochastic orders arose from how nitrogen affected yield risk attributes, and so in a sense from interests in crop insurance moral hazard concerns. Interest in copulas as both an empirical tool and as way of formally modeling production environments was driven by the multi-product nature of crop agriculture, together with the design of crop insurance contracts that seek to manage crop portfolios when countenancing both price and yield risks. The behavioral work is most empirical and fits under theory only to the extent that behavioral economics questions standard theory. In the case of the listed work, it arose largely from observations made during earlier inquiries reported under the Crops, Finance & Risk Management and Land Use & Environment headings. It has since taken on somewhat of a life of its own.