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PurposeAgricultural insurance has become increasingly important to farmers' livelihood and production in rural China. Yet despite the enormous governmental subsidizing efforts, the insurance participation rate remains below expectations. This study revisits the linkage between farmers' risk attitudes and crop insurance utilization by providing a cross-cutting perspective such that the role of risk aversion is re-scrutinized in Chinese “kindred” village economies.Design/methodology/approachThe authors administrated a lottery-based multiple price list (MPL) experiment by recruiting rice farmers from 12 villages in Sichuan province in southwestern China. Using the experimental data, farmers' risk attitudes are assessed and coefficients of risk aversion are estimated within the rank-dependent expected utility (RDEU) framework by maximizing a structured likelihood function.FindingsThis study provides substantiating evidence that rice farmers in southwestern China exhibit relatively high risk aversion. The authors also provide suggestive evidence of the positive relationship between farmers' risk aversion and crop insurance utilization. In addition, findings reveal that kinship network has a negative effect on crop insurance utilization, such that farmers who are connected in higher degree of kinship network have lower likelihood of crop insurance utilization, which suggests that kinship network may be substitute for formal crop insurance. Result also demonstrates that the incentive effect of risk aversion on farmers' crop insurance participation manifests differently depending on the degree of kinship network in rural China.Originality/valueThis study provides a cross-cutting perspective by scrutinizing the effects of farmers' risk attitudes and kinship network on crop insurance participation in rural China, which has received relatively little attention in the literature. Conclusions on the effects of risk aversion on crop insurance participation have been mixed in previous studies. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, little has been done to explicitly examine the influence of social proximity and networks on farmers' insurance uptake. This study attempts to fill both gaps. This study provides new insights which might shed lights on the understanding of farmers' crop insurance participation in rural China.

This article examines the effects of the so-called two-child policy on the future demographic structure and on alleviating the pension payment pressures. To this end, we provide population projections based on the cohort-component method and simulate the total fertility rate in different social-demographic scenarios. Actuarial models for pension fund budgets are calibrated. We found that the economic effects of the new fertility policy involve a time lag, with the predicted system dependency ratio significantly declining after 2035. The overall sustainability of pension balance will be improved, however, with the occurrence of both current and accumulated deficits delayed.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are important to the immune system and are frequently recruited to hypoxic regions, especially during acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Emerging data indicate that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors possess immunomodulatory functions. We previously showed in a rat model of AMI that the HDAC inhibitor TSA improved tissue repair, and this was accompanied by increased DC infiltration in the infarct region, suggesting an important role of TSA in modulating DC functions. To study the potential modulatory effect of TSA on DCs, we exploited an in vitro model of hypoxia and glucose deprivation. Culturing of DCs in the presence of 200 nM TSA improved DC survival under hypoxia and glucose deprivation. However, on a phenotypic level, TSA induced the expression of the DC co-stimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86, decreased FITC-dextran uptake, and facilitated DC migration. Moreover, TSA altered cytokine secretion by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-10, IL-12, and TGF-β. Furthermore, TSA treatment enhanced HIF-1α-dependent glycolytic gene expression and increased pyruvate kinase M2 by upregulating SRSF3. These results suggest that by TSA alters important DC functions under hypoxia and glucose deprivation, and that TSA is critical for DC function by modulating SRSF3-PKM2-dependent glycolytic pathways.

This paper examines how maximum residue limits (MRLs) affect the optimal choice by growers of chemical applications to control pests and diseases. In practice, growers who export balance both yield risk and pesticide residue uncertainty when making chemical application decisions. To address these issues we specify an expected utility model and calibrate it to data collected from a 2012 survey of hop growers in the Pacific Northwest. Then we simulate hop grower/exporter decisions subject to MRLs across a myriad of scenarios. As anticipated, risk preferences contribute to explaining higher chemical use. All else equal, more stringent MRLs tend to induce risk averse growers to apply fewer chemicals than do risk neutral growers because of the increasing likelihood of crop rejection due to exceeding an MRL. Under specific circumstances risk preferences coupled with underlying MRLs have the potential to tip the decision towards less chemical uses with potential for more growers implementing integrated pest management strategies or, alternatively, greater use of other pesticides not subject to MRL restrictions.

In 2007 the Chinese Ministry of Finance (CMF) approved the pilot agricultural insurance subsidy program, which tremendously promoted the growth of the agricultural insurance market. However the insurance adoption rate is still low comparing to that of developed countries. The main objective of this paper is to investigate factors most influence growers’ crop insurance adoption decisions. To this end, we adopt a double-bounded dichotomous choice (DBDC) experiment. This bidding experiment is conducted through extensive in-person interviews with over 300 rural households in west China, Szechwan province. By using the maximize likelihood method we empirically estimate the effects of factors such as landholding, income and farming experience on the farm-level crop insurance demand. Results indicate that the majority (53 per cent) of rice growers are willing to pay a high crop insurance premium above ¥10 ($ 1.7). On the other side, about 23 per cent of growers value the crop insurance below ¥2 ($ 0.34). As expected, the effects of landholding, education and income are all positive and statistically significant. However, household size and farming experience adversely affect the insurance adoption decisions.