Does Uncertainty Affect the Divergence between WTP and WTA Measures?

Many empirical studies have demonstrated large discrepancies between willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) measures. This paper examines the extent to which uncertainty about the environmental quality improvement can lead to a divergence between WTP and WTA measures. Indirect utility function parameters and uncertainty about the environmental quality change affect the extent to which WTP and WTA measures can differ. These results have implications for design and implementation of contingent valuation surveys.commitment cost

The Role of Land Retirement Programs for Management of Water Resources

Land Economics/Use,

A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Conservation Reserve Program Participation under Uncertainty

This paper develops theoretical and empirical models to understand how farmers formulate their participation strategies when deciding to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) under uncertainty. A theoretical model is employed to obtain the impacts of various factors on the optimal bidding strategies. A selectivity-based econometric model is then used to estimate the probability of enrollment and determinants of rental payments. The theoretical results indicate that the optimal bid is positively related to the expected farming income and environmental benefit scores, and it is negatively related to the degree of risk aversion and the variability of returns. The econometric model shows that land benefits, land attributes, farmer characteristics, and variability of climate variables impact the enrollment probabilities and rental rates received. These results have important policy implications for the design and implementation of conservation programs.conservation programs, land retirement, risk aversion, uncertainty., Farm Management,

INCORPORATING RISK PREFERENCES INTO REAL OPTIONS MODELS

This paper develops a framework to link the expected utility analysis to real options models in order to capture the joint effects of risk aversion and irreversibility associated with real investments. It aims at modifying the theory of investment under uncertainty by incorporating decision makers' risk preferences and allows explicitly analyzing the impacts of risk aversion, uncertainty and irreversibility on decisions such as investment and resource allocations. It addresses the shortcomings of the commonly used expected utility and investment under uncertainty models be generalizing the theory of irreversible investment under uncertainty by allowing for risk-averse investors. We found that uncertainty, irreversibility and risk aversion are important determinants of the optimal timing of irreversible decisions. Ignoring risk preferences in real options models would lead to over or underestimation of magnitude of investments.expected utility, investment under uncertainty, irreversibility, real options, risk aversion, Risk and Uncertainty, D81, G1,

Integrating Farmer Decision-Making to Target Land Retirement Programs

This paper develops a model to examine the impacts of uncertainty about crop production and irreversibility of program participation on determining land rental payments and least-cost land retirement targeting in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Results show that under risk aversion only, the marginal cost of abatement and the average land rental payment are less than those under risk neutrality. However, under uncertainty and irreversibility, the marginal cost and the average land rental payment are considerably higher than those under risk neutrality or risk aversion only. It is important to incorporate uncertainty and irreversibility into the design of land rental payments and in determining participation constraints.Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

STOCHASTIC TECHNOLOGY, RISK PREFERENCES AND ADOPTION OF SITE-SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGIES

This paper develops a model of farmer decision-making to examine the extent to which uncertainties about the performance of site-specific technologies (SSTs) and about the weather impact the value of these technologies. The model uses the jointly estimated risk and technology parameters to examine the impacts of SSTs on returns and nitrogen pollution. The availability of uncertain soil information and production uncertainty can lead risk-averse farmers to apply more fertilizers and generate more pollution. Ignoring the impact of uncertainty and risk preferences of farmers leads to a significant overestimation of the economic and environmental benefits of SSTs and underestimation of the required subsidy for inducing adoption of SSTs. The model that accounts for uncertainties about soil conditions and production as well as risk preferences of farmers provides an explanation for the low observed adoption rates of SSTs. Improvements in the accuracy of SSTs have the potential to increase the incentives for adoption.spatial variability, risk preferences, joint estimation, uncertainty, technology adoption, nitrogen runoff, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

An Analysis of the Effects of Uncertainty and Irreversibility on Farmer Participation in the Conservation Reserve Program

A real options model is developed to examine the determinants of farmer participation in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). This study contributes to the literature by developing a framework for ex post analysis of uncertainty and irreversibility. It extends the applications of real options models to analyze farmer participation in the CRP. The model incorporates land and owner attributes, and determines whether uncertainty and irreversibility affect the probability of participation. Option values play a significant role in farmer decisions to retire land by reducing the probability of participation. These results have implications for the design and implementation of conservation programs.conservation, CRP, farmer participation, land rental payments, option values, uncertainty, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Integrating Farmer Decision Making to Target Land Retirement Programs

This study develops a model to examine the impacts of uncertainty about crop production and irreversibility of program participation on determining land rental payments and least-cost land retirement targeting in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Results show that under risk aversion only, the marginal cost of abatement and the average land rental payment are less than those under risk neutrality. However, under uncertainty and irreversibility, the marginal cost of abatement and the average land rental payment are considerably higher than those under risk neutrality or risk aversion only. It is important to incorporate uncertainty and irreversibility into the design of land rental payments and in determining participation constraints.Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

VARIABLE-RATE NITROGEN APPLICATION UNDER UNCERTAINTY: IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFITABILITY AND NITROGEN USE

A micro-level model of farmer decision making is developed to examine the extent to which uncertainty about potential yields influences the value of site-specific technologies. The economic and environmental benefits of these technologies arise from two sources: information gathering and variable-rate nitrogen application is higher on fields with low average potential yields, high spatial variability, positively skewed potential yield distributions, responsive yield to nitrogen, and low uncertainty. Variable-rate application decreases nitrogen use by reducing the extent of overapplication. However, in the presence of uncertainty about potential yields, the incentives to overapply nitrogen irrespective of the method of application, uniform of variable rate, can reduce the economic and environmental benefits of site-specific technologies.Crop Production/Industries,

A Survey of Spiking Neural Network Accelerator on FPGA

Due to the ability to implement customized topology, FPGA is increasingly used to deploy SNNs in both embedded and high-performance applications. In this paper, we survey state-of-the-art SNN implementations and their applications on FPGA. We collect the recent widely-used spiking neuron models, network structures, and signal encoding formats, followed by the enumeration of related hardware design schemes for FPGA-based SNN implementations. Compared with the previous surveys, this manuscript enumerates the application instances that applied the above-mentioned technical schemes in recent research. Based on that, we discuss the actual acceleration potential of implementing SNN on FPGA. According to our above discussion, the upcoming trends are discussed in this paper and give a guideline for further advancement in related subjects