The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 95 No. 4 2013
Time to Change What to Sow: Risk Preferences and Technology Adoption Decisions of Cotton Farmers in China
Abstract
This paper examines the role of individual risk attitudes in the decision to adopt a new form of agricultural biotechnology in China. I conducted a survey and a field experiment to elicit the risk preferences of Chinese farmers, who faced the decision of whether to adopt genetically modified Bt cotton a decade ago. In my analysis, I expand the measurement of risk preferences beyond expected utility theory to incorporate prospect theory. I find that farmers who are more risk averse or more loss averse adopt Bt cotton later. Farmers who overweight small probabilities adopt Bt cotton earlier.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest_a_00295
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1386-1403
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref