Economic Analysis of Supplemental Deductible Coverage as Recommended in the USDA's 2007 Farm Bill Proposal

A primary change to crop insurance contained in the USDA's Farm Bill Proposal is Supplemental Deductible Coverage (SDC). SDC would allow farmers who purchase individual crop insurance coverage to purchase GRP in the amount of the individual policy deductible. GRP indemnities would be accelerated compared with the current GRP policy. Analysis indicates that SDC provides substantial benefits in terms of certainty equivalent gains. The largest benefits are realized by low risk farmers, compared to others in the county, and farmers whose yields are highly correlated with the county yield. Optimal individual policy coverage levels generally decrease when SDC is taken.

ACTUARIAL EFFECTS OF UNIT STRUCTURE IN THE U.S. ACTUAL PRODUCTION HISTORY CROP INSURANCE PROGRAM

This paper examines the effects of optional subdivision on APHP losses for wheat, corn, and soybeans. Thirty-seven state/crop programs are analyzed and the implications of the results are discussed in relation to newly developed crop and revenue insurance programs. The results illustrate the importance of incorporating actuarial experience into the premium rate structure and contract provisions of an insurance program.Actual Production History Program (APHP), crop insurance programs, Risk and Uncertainty,

Economic Analysis of Supplemental Deductible Coverage as Recommended in the USDA's 2007 Farm Bill Proposal

A primary change to crop insurance contained in the USDA’s Farm Bill proposal is supplemental deductible coverage (SDC). SDC would allow farmers who purchase individual crop insurance coverage to purchase area-wide coverage in the amount of the individual policy deductible. This supplemental area-wide coverage would be similar to the existing Group Risk Plan policy, but with an accelerated indemnity schedule. Analysis indicates that SDC increases farmer certainty equivalents. The largest benefits are realized by farmers with high yield potential in counties with greater systemic risk. In general, optimal individual policy coverage levels modestly decrease when SDC is taken.crop insurance, area-wide coverage, actual production history (APH), group risk plan (GRP), yield distribution, Risk and Uncertainty,

DARPA BioComp Plasmid Distribution 1.00 of Standard Biobrick Components

This distribution consists of 300 ng aliquots of plasmid DNA for each of twelve components and compound constructs utilizing our idempotent assembly strategy. The dried DNA should be stable at room temperature for many weeks, but long term storage at -20 or -80 in the resealable foil pouch with desiccant is recommended. This document and much additional information, protocols, and detailed sequences is or will be available from the site http://ks.ai.mit.eduDARP

Idempotent Vector Design for Standard Assembly of Biobricks

The lack of standardization in assembly techniques for DNA sequences forces each DNA assembly reaction to be both an experimental tool for addressing the current research topic, and an experiment in and of itself. One of our goals is to replace this ad hoc experimental design with a set of standard and reliable engineering mechanisms to remove much of the tedium and surprise during assembly of genetic components into larger systems.DARP

CONS

DRAFT: Comments and corrections, technical or typographical, are solicited. This work was conducted at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research program supported in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense and monitored by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Number N00014-70-A-0362-0003.MIT Artificial Intelligence Laborator

A Psychometric Examination of Prosocial Behavior Across Cultural Contexts

Acts of aggression and violence within the school setting have compelled researchers and professionals to develop and implement interventions designed to cultivate student safety. Recently, the focus of these interventions has been on prosocial behaviors, which are broadly defined as acts intended to benefit others above oneself and can include actions such as helping and cooperating (Batson & Powell, 2003). From a theoretical perspective, previous researchers (Piaget, 1932; Kohlberg, 1984) have generally postulated that moral reasoning and its corollaries (e.g., prosocial behavior) generally develop according to a prescribed trajectory. Yet, additional research in this area has supported the notion that cultural and contextual influences play an important role in one\u27s proclivity to act prosocially (e.g., Ellis & Boyce, 2008; Snarey, 1985). It is therefore imperative that culture and context be considered when designing interventions and assessments related to prosocial behaviors. The Be a Safety Kid curriculum provides students in kindergarten through 8th grade with direct instruction intended to teach prosocial behaviors through the concept of responsible reporting, which entails communicating information regarding potentially dangerous situations. As part of the curriculum, the S.T.A.R. Instrument is utilized as a pre- and post-test assessment of the extent to which the curriculum has influenced the students\u27 knowledge of prosocial behavior, anticipated performance of prosocial behavior, and feeling of school connectedness/safety. The current study sought to ascertain the extent to which the S.T.A.R. instrument measures the constructs of knowledge, performance, and school connectedness/safety similarly across cultural contexts by examining and comparing the underlying factor structure of the S.T.A.R. Instrument post-test results from students of different states, races, community types, and socioeconomic statuses. Results of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) for 1st and 2nd grade suggest that the S.T.A.R. instrument does not consistently align with the constructs designed through its creation. The conclusions of this study will add to the existing literature base on prosocial behaviors and further highlight the importance of considering cultural and contextual factors when developing prosocial interventions and accompanying assessments

Evaluation of Crop Insurance Yield Guarantees and Producer Welfare with Upward Trending Yields

Actual Production History (APH) yields play a critical role in determining the coverage offered to producers by the Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Yield Protection, Revenue Protection, and Revenue Protection-Harvest Price Exclusion crop insurance products. The RMA currently uses the simple average of from 4 to 10 years of historical yields to determine the APH yield guarantee. If crop yields are trending upward, use of a simple average of historical yields introduces bias into the insurance offering. Using both county and individual insured unit data, we examine the producer impact of APH yield trends for Texas cotton and Illinois corn. Our findings indicate that biases due to using simple average APH yields when yields are trending upward reduce the expected indemnity and actuarially fair premium rate. Certainty equivalent differences are computed and used as a measure of the magnitude of welfare effect of trend-based biases in APH yields. The estimated welfare effect also varies significantly with different commonly used detrending approaches. This study demonstrates that producer welfare can be enhanced through proper treatment of yield trends in crop insurance programs.Actual Production History, Crop Insurance, Yield Trend, Yield Guarantee, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,