World Scientific Publishing Company Risk, Uncertainty and the Agricultural Firm

This text is the first major survey of risk analysis from the perspective of the agricultural firms since Agricultural Decision Analysis by Anderson, Dillon, and Hardaker published in 1977. In addition to updating the traditional material from that text, this book includes the statistical foundations of decision making under risk and uncertainty. Adding to the material covered in Anderson, Dillon, and Hardaker, the text includes material on dynamic decision rules, the arbitrage pricing model, real options theory, and state-contingent production relationships. Risk, Uncertainty, and the Agricultural Firm provides a unique discussion of each application developing the theoretical basis for each model and presenting an empirical roadmap (or the nuts and bolts ) of each model to facilitate the empirical application of each technique. Review "Great timing! The book provides a comprehensive overview of risk and decision making in agriculture, when it is vitally needed. Thanks to the extras in the book, Moss has managed to keep even the complex risk topics accessible to graduate students." -- Richard Gray, University of Saskatchewan "Moss provides a complete, rigorous, and up-to-date treatment of the economics of risk. A thorough, precise, and modern explanation of the economics of risk." -- Wade Brorsen, Regents Professor and the Jean & Patsy Neustadt Chair, Oklahoma State University "It is for Master of Science and Ph.D. students in economics, management science, finance, applied mathematics and other interested people with a background in mathematics, statistics or econometrics." --Zentralblatt MATH From the Back Cover This text is the first major survey of risk analysis from the perspective of the agricultural firms since Agricultural Decision Analysis by Anderson, Dillon, and Hardaker published in 1977. In addition to updating the traditional material from that text, this book includes the statistical foundations of decision making under risk and uncertainty. Adding to the material covered in Anderson, Dillon, and Hardaker, the text includes material on dynamic decision rules, the arbitrage pricing model, real options theory, and state-contingent production relationships. Risk, Uncertainty, and the Agricultural Firm provides a unique discussion of each application developing the theoretical basis for each model and presenting an empirical roadmap (or the "nuts and bolts") of each model to facilitate the empirical application of each technique. About the Author Charles B Moss grew up on a cattle and wheat farm in Western Oklahoma. He received his BS in Agricultural Economics and Accounting from Oklahoma State University in 1982 and his MS in Agricultural Economics in 1984. He continued his studies in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University and received his PhD in 1987. His research has primarily focused on the areas of financial risk and stress in the farm sector. In addition, he has applied his quantitative skills to problems including water resource management, timber resources, citrus crop decisions, coffee marketing in Mexico, trade issues in sugar, analysis of technology adoption including precision agriculture, invasive species and agricultural productivity measures. These research activities have produced 190 research publications including five edited volumes, 22 book chapters, 70 refereed journal articles, nine papers published in proceedings and more than 100 presentations across the country and internationally. Moss had the privilege to serve as a McKethan-Matherly fellow in the Economics Department at the University of Florida from 1989 1994 working with the late Professor Henri Theil and is an affiliate member of the Center for Applied Optimization and the Center for Latin American Studies, both at the University of Florida. In 2006, Moss received the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics Outstanding Journal Article award with Steve Blank and Kenneth Erickson. In addi