Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry

Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry PDF Author: Smith, Vincent H.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
A central, but inadequately explored issue with respect to subsidized crop insurance programs concerns the costs of delivering insurance coverage to farmers. This study examines that issue in the context of the heavily subsidized US crop insurance program which has often been put forward as a model for agricultural insurance programs in other countries. US Government programs often rely on private firms to deliver income transfers or services, which then establish their own rent-seeking lobbies, which are shared with input suppliers. This rent dispersion process is examined in the context of the U.S. agricultural insurance industry, which receives as much as one third of the annual subsidies that support the federal crop insurance program. We find that as total payments to insurance companies increased between 2001 and 2009, an increasingly large share of the agricultural insurance industry’s rents accrued to insurance agents, although in markets where insurance companies possessed some oligopsony power, agent payments are smaller. The findings also suggest that the insurance industry (companies and independent agents) would almost surely provide the same service for substantially less than the gross revenues from the subsidies and underwriting gains they received.

Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry

Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry PDF Author: Smith, Vincent H.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
A central, but inadequately explored issue with respect to subsidized crop insurance programs concerns the costs of delivering insurance coverage to farmers. This study examines that issue in the context of the heavily subsidized US crop insurance program which has often been put forward as a model for agricultural insurance programs in other countries. US Government programs often rely on private firms to deliver income transfers or services, which then establish their own rent-seeking lobbies, which are shared with input suppliers. This rent dispersion process is examined in the context of the U.S. agricultural insurance industry, which receives as much as one third of the annual subsidies that support the federal crop insurance program. We find that as total payments to insurance companies increased between 2001 and 2009, an increasingly large share of the agricultural insurance industry’s rents accrued to insurance agents, although in markets where insurance companies possessed some oligopsony power, agent payments are smaller. The findings also suggest that the insurance industry (companies and independent agents) would almost surely provide the same service for substantially less than the gross revenues from the subsidies and underwriting gains they received.

The Us Federal Crop Insurance Program

The Us Federal Crop Insurance Program PDF Author: Vincent Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
This study examines how, in the context of three major crop insurance legislative initatives by the US government in 1989, 1994, and 2000, regulatory and other innovations to the federal crop insurance program have been designed to jointly benefit farm interest groups and the agricultural insurance industry, with spillover benefits for credit institutions that make loans to farmers. The analysis clearly demonstrates that those initiatives have resulted in considerable and generally increasing costs to US taxpayers and that they evolved as the result of explicit or implicit coalitions between farm interest groups and crop insurance interest groups.

Economic Considerations in Crop Insurance

Economic Considerations in Crop Insurance PDF Author: Warren R. Bailey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crop insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description


To Review the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and Related Crop Insurance Issues

To Review the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and Related Crop Insurance Issues PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


Hearing to Review the State of the Crop Insurance Industry

Hearing to Review the State of the Crop Insurance Industry PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description


USDA implementation of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and related crop insurance issues

USDA implementation of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and related crop insurance issues PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description


Agricultural Policy in Disarray

Agricultural Policy in Disarray PDF Author: Vincent H. Smith
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0844750182
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Agricultural Policy in Disarray provides fascinating, detailed, and contemporary evidence of how rent-seeking by small, well-organized interest groups results in government policies that do little good and much harm.

Implications of Slowing Growth in Emerging Market Economies for Hunger and Poverty in Rural Areas of Developing Countries

Implications of Slowing Growth in Emerging Market Economies for Hunger and Poverty in Rural Areas of Developing Countries PDF Author: Laborde Debucquet, David
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Over the past 25 years, economic growth rates in many developing countries have outpaced those in industrialized countries, and per capita incomes of these two groups of countries have started to converge. Growth in developing countries contributed to a dramatic drop—from 37 percent to 13 percent—in the global extreme poverty rate between 1990 and 201. However, the global economic outlook has deteriorated recently. This paper examines the impact of the actual and projected slowdown in the world economy since 2012 on the poor and on the potential for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It builds on the changes between 2012 and late 2015 in the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook projections to provide the basic slowdown scenario. It then uses a global model to assess the impacts of lower rates of productivity growth and consequent lower savings and investment on key price and income variables. The productivity shocks are passed directly to the production activities included in household microsimulation models for almost 300,000 households. These households are also affected by the modeled changes in prices and wages. Simulations allow us to assess the impacts of the slowdown on the real household incomes of the poor, and hence on the poverty rate. The results suggest that the poorest countries will see the greatest slowdown in poverty reduction, with over 5 percent of their population projected to remain below the poverty line. Overall 38 million fewer people will leave extreme poverty compared to earlier projections. Farm households are at particular risk in middle-income countries, with over 1.5 percent more of the farming population potentially not escaping extreme poverty in these countries. By 2030, average extreme poverty in rural areas is now projected to be about 7.5 percent, rather than 7.1 percent. While substantial poverty reduction is still expected between now and 2030, a strong focus on policies for poverty reduction will be vital to achieving the first SDG goal of eliminating poverty.

To Amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act

To Amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crop insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description


Making pulses affordable again

Making pulses affordable again PDF Author: Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
Rising prices and declining consumption of pulses cause concern in terms of both nutrition and food inflation in India. This paper outlines policy strategies to increase the availability of pulses at affordable prices in India and also points out limitations of some of the most common recommendations for achieving these objectives. There seems to be no option but to increase domestic production of pulses in India. The global supply of pulses is limited compared with India’s needs, and sizable imports by India are bound to increase world prices. Domestic production of pulses in India is most likely piecewise inelastic, meaning that small price increases do not translate into a significant supply response. Because farmers face both production and marketing risks, they increase pulse area and intensify production only when there is a large increase in expected prices that covers the risk premium. Droughts, too, are a major risk for pulses. Access to one or two protective irrigations during the growing season can possibly lead to sizable increases in pulse production and reduce the production risk. The har khet ko paani (assured irrigation) initiative under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) program should give priority to pulse-producing areas. The minimum support price (MSP) for pulses, without direct government procurement, helps traders more than farmers because it acts as a focal point for tacit collusion among traders. Farmers will benefit from the MSP only if it is raised substantially from its current levels. The increase in farmgate prices due to a higher MSP will not necessarily lead to an increase in the retail price of pulses because much of the wedge between farmgate prices and consumer prices is traders’ margin. Including subsidized pulses in public distribution systems can save households some money, but it has only a small effect on total consumption of pulses and almost no effect on total protein intake. We suggest, as more potent solutions, investing in research and extension for pulses, aggregating pulse growers into farmer producer organizations, and paying pulse growers or pulse-growing areas for the ecosystem services offered by pulses.