Bruce J. Sherrick

Bio: Bruce J. Sherrick is an academic researcher from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The author has contributed to research in topics: Crop insurance & Yield (finance). The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 91 publications receiving 1784 citations. Previous affiliations of Bruce J. Sherrick include Ohio State University.

Factors Influencing Farmers' Crop Insurance Decisions

Abstract: Farmers' decisions to purchase crop insurance and their choices among alternative products are analyzed using a two-stage estimation procedure. The influences of risk perceptions, competing risk management options, as well structural and demographic differences are evaluated. The likelihood for crop insurance usage is found to be higher for larger, older, less tenured, more highly leveraged farms, and by those with higher perceived yield risks. The marginal effects of size, age, perceived yield risk, perceived importance of risk management activities, and other structural and demographic variables are identified in terms of their influences on choices among alternative crop insurance products. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.

Factors Affecting Farmers' Utilization of Agricultural Risk Management Tools: The Case of Crop Insurance, Forward Contracting, and Spreading Sales

Abstract: Factors affecting the adoption of crop insurance, forward contracting, and spreading sales are analyzed using multivariate and multinomial probit approaches that account for simultaneous adoption and/or correlation among the three risk management adoption decisions. Our empirical results suggest that the decision to adopt crop insurance, forward contracting, and/or spreading sales are correlated. Richer insights can be drawn from our multivariate and multinomial probit analysis than from separate, single-equation probit estimation that assumes independence of adoption decisions. Some factors significantly affecting the adoption of the risk management tools analyzed are proportion of owned acres, off-farm income, education, age, and level of business risks.

Crop Insurance Valuation under Alternative Yield Distributions

Abstract: Considerable disagreement exists about the most appropriate characterization of farm-level yield distributions. Yet, the economic importance of alternative yield distribution specifications on crop insurance valuation has not been well documented. The results of this study demonstrate that large differences in expected payouts from popular crop insurance products can arise solely from the parameterization chosen to represent yield distributions. The results suggest that the frequently unexamined yield distribution specification may lead to economically significant errors in crop insurance policy rating and assessment of expected payouts from policies.

Factors Influencing Illinois Farmland Values

Abstract: A hedonic model of Illinois farmland values is estimated using county-level cross-section time-series data. Explanatory variables include land productivity, parcel size, improvements, distances to Chicago and other large cities, an urban‐rural index, livestock production through swine operation scale and farm density measures, population density, income, and inflation. The inclusion of spatial and serial correlation components substantially improves the model fit. Farmland values decline with parcel size, ruralness, distance to Chicago and large cities, and swine farm density, and increase with soil productivity, population density, and personal income.

Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys

Abstract: 25. Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. By D. B. Rubin. ISBN 0 471 08705 X. Wiley, Chichester, 1987. 258 pp. £30.25.

Forecasting Volatility in Financial Markets: A Review

Abstract: Financial market volatility is an important input for investment, option pricing, and financial market regulation. The emphasis of this review article is on forecasting instead of modelling; it compares the volatility forecasting findings in 93 papers published and written in the last two decades. Provided in this paper as well are volatility definitions, insights into problematic issues of forecast evaluation, data frequency, extreme values and the measurement of "actual" volatility. We compare volatility forecasting performance of two main approaches; historical volatility models and volatility implied from options. Forecasting results are compared across different asset classes and geographical regions.

Integrating economic costs into conservation planning.

Abstract: Recent studies that incorporate the spatial distributions of biological benefits and economic costs in conservation planning have shown that limited budgets can achieve substantially larger biological gains than when planning ignores costs. Despite concern from donors about the effectiveness of conservation interventions, these increases in efficiency from incorporating costs into planning have not yet been widely recognized. Here, we focus on what these costs are, why they are important to consider, how they can be quantified and the benefits of their inclusion in priority setting. The most recent work in the field has examined the degree to which dynamics and threat affect the outcomes of conservation planning. We assess how costs fit into this new framework and consider prospects for integrating them into conservation planning.