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Heterogeneous Risk Preferences, Discount Rates and Land Contract Choice in Ethiopia

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  • Mintewab Bezabih

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of risk and rate of time preference in the choice of land contracts. The analysis builds on the risk‐sharing and imperfect market explanations of contract choice. Unique data from Ethiopia, which contain land contract information and experimental risk and rate of time preference measures on matched landlord–tenant partners, are employed in the empirical analysis. The results show that landlord and tenant time preferences are significant determinants of contract choice. For landlords (but not tenants), risk preference is also significant, indicating the importance of financial constraints and production risk in the determination of contract choice. The results are of particular relevance to land market policy in Ethiopia, where production is risk‐prone, financial markets are imperfect, and where there is a major need for the development of vibrant land rental markets.

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  • Mintewab Bezabih, 2009. "Heterogeneous Risk Preferences, Discount Rates and Land Contract Choice in Ethiopia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 402-418, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:60:y:2009:i:2:p:402-418
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2008.00194.x
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    3. Cao, Yueming & Bai, Yunli & Zhang, Linxiu, 2021. "Plot Size, Adjacency, and Farmland Rental Contract Choice," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315378, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Mohan, Sarah, 2020. "Risk aversion and certification: Evidence from the Nepali tea fields," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Hurley, Terrance M., 2010. "A review of agricultural production risk in the developing world," Working Papers 188476, HarvestChoice.
    6. Gwendoline Promsopha, 2017. "Are free land arrangement really free? An exploration into land arrangements made by rural-urban migrants in the Northeast of Thailand," Working Papers hal-01565843, HAL.
    7. Yihong Ding & Kelvin Balcombe & Elizabeth Robinson, 2021. "Time discounting and implications for Chinese farmer responses to an upward trend in precipitation," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 916-930, September.
    8. Yashodha, Y., 2018. "Bargaining and Contract Choice: Evidence from Informal Groundwater Contracts," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276035, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Roland Olbrich & Martin F. Quaas & Andreas Haensler & Stefan Baumgaertner, 2011. "Risk preferences under heterogeneous environmental risk," Working Paper Series in Economics 208, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    10. Sant’Anna, Ana Claudia & Bergtold, Jason S. & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Caldas, Marcellus M. & Granco, Gabriel, 2022. "Biofuel feedstock contract attributes, substitutability and tradeoffs in sugarcane production for ethanol in the Brazilian Cerrado: A stated choice approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 665-679.

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