Government subsidized crop insurance has been used by a number of
developed countries as a mechanism to reduce farm income instability by
reducing yield risks. This book provides an in-depth analysis and
evaluation of government provided crop insurance in developed
countries.
The book is organized into three sections: Part one presents background
material on crop insurance programs in the U.S., Canada and selected
other countries. Part two provides some analytical models of multiple
peril crop insurance which suggest the possibility of modification of
design which could improve performance and which explores theoretical
linkages between crop insurance decisions and other producer decisions
previously not analyzed. The main part of the book is Part three, where
the results of a series of empirical studies using databases
particularly designed to answer crop insurance questions are presented.
This part of the book tests a number of the hypotheses which were raised
in Parts one and two regarding reasons for the view widely held by
economists that crop insurance has not functioned well.