Behavioural aspects in crop insurance uptakes: the Italian market

Abstract

The agricultural yield is affected by several risks, main of them are not controllable by humans. For this reason, the CAP has established several interventions to help guaranteeing a stable and appropriate income to farmers. One of the main policy interventions established in the current CAP that will be in place also in the future CAP, is the subsidized crop insurance. This tool did not spread in the Central and Southern Italy as much as in the Northern Italy. Several aspects should be considered to explain such a heterogenous uptake: among them, the behavioral aspects are likely to play a role. We investigate these aspects and conclude on variables that tend to affect farmers’ choices on crop insurance, with specific reference to the behavioral aspects such as risk and ambiguity attitudes and temporal preferences.