8pgs, In many studies, communication and social cognitive theories have been used to investigate people's behaviors toward agricultural insurance programs resulting in varied conclusions on how and why people react to such programs. However, few of them have explicitly investigated the role of social cognitive theory in escalating insurance literacy levels on agriculture and cultural factors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the behavioral factors of tidal swampland farmers in Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan province, towards agricultural insurance in the perspective of analyzing farmers' knowledge of agricultural insurance products and determinants of community behavior. Under the instrumental case-study research design, the data were collected through interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) with 35 informants, consisting of the Head of the South Kalimantan Provincial Agriculture Service and the Barito Kuala District Agriculture Service, opinion leaders, academics, representatives of farmer groups, and farmers. Documentation data related to the implementation of the agricultural insurance program were used to complete the interview and FGDs data. The results of this study indicate that tidal swampland farmers are trapped in hoax information or negative issues related to Agricultural Insurance which makes them reluctant to participate in agricultural insurance. Farmers prefer to be resigned and surrender to the state of their agricultural land than to participate in agricultural insurance. Besides, farmers feel there is no point in participating in agricultural insurance, especially those who think the registration and insurance claim process is convoluted. Low insurance literacy is a key problem of the misinformation that is formed.
15 pages, Increasing popularity of economic experiments for policy impact analysis has led to an on-going debate about the suitability of students to substitute professionals as experimental subjects. To date, subject pool effects in agricultural and resource economics experiments have not been sufficiently studied. In order to identify differences and similarities between students and non-students, we carry out an experiment in the form of a multi-period business management game that is adapted to an agri-environmental context. We compare the compliance behaviour of German agricultural students and German farmers with regard to water protection rules and analyse their responses to two different green nudge interventions. The experimental results reveal that the direction of the response to the policy treatments is similar. Even unexpected behaviour could be reproduced by the student sample. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the treatment effects differed between the two samples. This implies that experimenters in the field of agricultural and resource economics could use the subject pool of students to analyse the direction of nudge policies. If predictions should be made about the magnitude effects, we suggest using a professional subject pool.
8 pages, Cattle handling Extension program educators often overlook the animal training component of efficient handling. The objectives of the study described in this article were to measure young dairy heifer behavioral responses toward handlers who received different types of training and to document whether repeated handling or time of day of handling affected heifer behavioral responses to handlers. Six handlers received training through a lecture, hands-on workshop, or video. An observer recorded heifer behavior during handling tests. The day and time of heifer training were most influential on heifer behavior, but heifer handling ease was improved when handlers had participated in the hands-on training.
13 pages, No consensus exists regarding which are the most effective mechanisms to promote household action on climate change. We present a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comprising 3,092,678 observations, which estimates the effects of behavioural interventions holding other factors constant. Here we show that behavioural interventions promote climate change mitigation to a very small degree while the intervention lasts (d = −0.093 95% CI −0.160, −0.055), with no evidence of sustained positive effects once the intervention ends. With the exception of recycling, most household mitigation behaviours show a low behavioural plasticity. The intervention with the highest average effect size is choice architecture (nudges) but this strategy has been tested in a limited number of behaviours. Our results do not imply behavioural interventions are less effective than alternative strategies such as financial incentives or regulations, nor exclude the possibility that behavioural interventions could have stronger effects when used in combination with alternative strategies.
