Enterprise diversification in US dairy: impact of risk preferences on scale and scope economies

C-Tier
Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2011
Volume: 43
Issue: 26
Pages: 3849-3862

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Enterprise diversification has recently become a prominent feature of US dairy farms. Scope economies and risk aversion are two forces that simultaneously determine diversification. We jointly estimate scope economies and determine risk preferences under price uncertainty. We reject risk neutrality in favour of Increasing Absolute Risk Aversion (IARA) and Increasing Relative Risk Aversion (IRRA). Scope economies are significant, but diminish with farm size. Increasing returns to scale exist in the production of multiple enterprises and diminish with size. Large farms operate under decreasing returns to scale. Ignoring risk preferences, a common practice in empirical work, results in an underestimate of the effect of scope economies for large farms.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:taf:applec:v:43:y:2011:i:26:p:3849-3862
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29