The effect of rental rates on the extension of Conservation Reserve Program contracts

Given that the majority of conservation reserve program (CRP) contracts on approximately 36 million acres of enrolled land expire concurrently, re-enrollment decisions by farmers and the federal government have high budgetary implications. Using a survey of over 8,000 CRP contract holders, we apply an ordered response discrete choice model to explicitly model the range in rental rates over which the representative farmer may be ambivalent to renewing the CRP contract. Given the empirical results from the ordered response model, we estimate acreage re-enrollment as a function of the rental rate and compare them to results of a binomial choice model.CRP contracts; ordered probit; re-enrollment; respondent indifference

Replication study: a cross-country field observation study of real world PIN usage at ATMs and in various electronic payment scenarios:towards understanding why people do, or do not, shield PIN entry

In this paper, we describe the study we carried out to replicate and extend the field observation study of real world ATM use carried out by De Luca et al., published at the SOUPS conference in 2010. Replicating De Luca et al.'s study, we observed PIN shielding rates at ATMs in Germany. We then extended their research by conducting a similar field observation study in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Moreover, in addition to observing ATM users (withdrawing), we also observed electronic payment scenarios requiring PIN entry. Altogether, we gathered data related to 930 observations. Similar to De Luca et al., we conducted follow-up interviews, the better to interpret our findings. We were able to confirm De Luca et al.'s findings with respect to low PIN shielding incidence during ATM cash withdrawals, with no significant differences between shielding rates across the three countries. PIN shielding incidence during electronic payment scenarios was significantly lower than incidence during ATM withdrawal scenarios in both the United Kingdom and Sweden. Shielding levels in Germany were similar during both withdrawal and payment scenarios. We conclude the paper by suggesting a number of explanations for the differences in shielding that our study revealed

Economic Aspects of Revenue-Based Commodity Support

Interest in revenue-based commodity support is evident in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill), which gives eligible producers the option of participating in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program in return for reductions and eliminations of payments under more traditional programs. This report examines how the uncertainty in U.S. domestic commodity support payments for corn may differ between traditional-style approaches (defined as price-based payments plus yield-based disaster payments) to support and two revenue-based support scenarios. Variability around the total expected annual payment was found to be lower under revenue-based support, as was the probability of high payments. These results suggest potential advantages to this type of support, both in terms of lower budgetary uncertainty for the Federal Government and in better ensuring that agricultural support outlays stay below a certain ceiling. In addition, the volatility of corn revenue was found to be lower in almost all corn producing counties under the revenue-based alternatives than under the traditional price-based approaches.Domestic commodity support, revenue-based support, marketing loan benefits, countercyclical payments, disaster assistance, Federal crop insurance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics,

The impact of information on patient preferences in different delivery patterns : a contingent valuation study of prescription versus OTC drugs

Our analysis assessed the impact of information on patients' preferences in prescription vs over-the-counter (OTC) delivery systems. A contingent valuation (CV) study was implemented, randomly assigning 1594 people into the receipt of limited or extended information concerning new influenza drugs. In each information arm, people answered two questions: the first asked about willingness to pay (WTP) for the new prescription drug; the second asked about WTP for the same drug sold OTC. We show that WTP is higher for the OTC scenario and that the level of information plays a significant role in the valuation of the OTC scenario, with more information increasing the WTP. In contrast, the level of information has no impact on WTP for prescription medicine. Thus, for the kind of drug (i.e. safe, not requiring medical supervision) considered here, a switch to OTC status can be expected to be all the more beneficial as the patient is provided with more information concerning the capability of the drug. Conclusions: Our results shed some light on one of the most challenging issues that health policy makers are currently faced with, namely the threat of a bird flu pandemic. Drug delivery is a critical component of pandemic influenza preparedness. Furthermore, the congruence of our results with the agency and demand theories provides an important test of the validity of using WTP based on CV methods.WTP, CV, OTC versus prescription, neuraminidase inhibitors, interval-censored regression

Detecting Conflicts and Inconsistencies in Web Application Requirements

Web applications evolve fast. One of the main reasons for this evolution is that new requirements emerge and change constantly. These new requirements are posed either by customers or they are the consequence of users’ feedback about the application. One of the main problems when dealing with new requirements is their consistency in relationship with the current version of the application. In this paper we present an effective approach for detecting and solving inconsistencies and conflicts in web software requirements. We first characterize the kind of inconsistencies arising in web applications requirements and then show how to isolate them using a modeldriven approach. With a set of examples we illustrate our approach

Toward Semantics-aware Representation of Digital Business Processes

An extended enterprise (EE) can be described by a set of models each representing a specific aspect of the EE. Aspects can for example be the process flow or the value description. However, different models are done by different people, which may use different terminology, which prevents relating the models. Therefore, we propose a framework consisting of process flow and value aspects and in addition a static domain model with structural and relational components. Further, we outline the usage of the static domain model to enable relating the different aspects

A generic template for FSSIM

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,