Abstract

Risk plays a crucial role in economic decisions, particularly in developing country smallholder farmers are fraught with risk and uncertainty, and their decision making is heavily influenced by behavioral factors like risk preferences.  

Behavioral economists and psychologists have developed a variety of risk preference elicitation methods. Using results from a lab-in-the-field experiments and surveys with 500 smallholder peri-urban farmers in Ethiopia, Haftom will tell us empirical findings and stories on whether and to what extent risk elicitation methods and incentives matter; and how these methods work in the field experiments in Africa.

Short Bio

Haftom Bayray is AIAS Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, Mekelle University in Ethiopia.

Haftom is an empirical development economist. His research focuses on development, behavioral, and experimental economics.  In his research, he examines the behavioral aspects influencing farmers’ decision-making, investigate whether certain intervention mechanisms can affect these behavioral factors, and assess the impacts of intervention programs and policies in developing countries using micro level data.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Sofia Bentsen at sofia@aias.au.dk by 9:00am on the day of the semimar as the latest to request a link.