Responsiveness of farm investment to price changes: evidence from the French crop sector
Résumé
In this article, we investigate the investment behaviour of French crop farmers between 2002 and 2014, with a focus on their adjustments to investment prices and farm output prices, which became more volatile after 2007. We estimate an econometric model of farm investment accounting for farm heterogeneity and allowing for change in behavioural parameters after 2007. Our results show evidence of a significant behavioural change in large investments over time, related to a change in farmers' preferences towards risk, which can explain the relative stability of farm investment over the period, despite the strong increase in crop price levels and in crop price volatility after 2007.