The roles of risk and ambiguity in technology adoption

被引:128
作者
Barham, Bradford L. [1 ]
Chavas, Jean-Paul [1 ]
Fitz, Dylan [2 ]
Salas, Vanessa Rios [1 ]
Schechter, Laura [1 ]
机构
[1] UW Madison, Madison, WI 53715 USA
[2] Davidson Coll, Davidson, NC 28036 USA
关键词
Risk aversion; Ambiguity aversion; Technology adoption; Genetically modified (GM) seeds; COMPARATIVE IGNORANCE; DECISION-MAKING; CORN ADOPTION; AVERSION; UNCERTAINTY; ECONOMICS; PREFERENCES; INNOVATION; ATTITUDES; DYNAMICS;
D O I
10.1016/j.jebo.2013.06.014
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
We study the impacts of risk and ambiguity aversion on the adoption of new technologies, specifically genetically modified (GM) corn and soy seeds. We conduct experiments measuring risk and ambiguity aversion with Midwestern grain farmers. Risk aversion has only a small impact on the timing of adoption of GM soy, while ambiguity-aversion has a large impact speeding up farmer adoption of GM corn. We hypothesize that this unusual finding is due to the fact that GM corn often contains an insect-resistance trait which reduces the ambiguity of pest damages for adopters. GM soy never contains this insect-resistance trait. This highlights the importance of distinguishing between risk and ambiguity when studying the effects of aversion to uncertainty on adoption of new technologies. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:204 / 218
页数:15
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