The climate alters pest populations and in turn, pesticide use and cost as well as use of other pest treatments. This paper analyzes the effect of the climate on pesticide expenditures by category, namely: fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. This is done by econometrically estimating the effects of climate variables such as mean temperature and precipitation as well as the number of hot days, cold days, and wet days on the mean and variance of expenditures by category. The estimates are performed for corn, soybeans, spring and winter wheat, and potatoes. We find that climate factors influence fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide expenditures and that this influence is heterogeneous, varying in nature across crops and pesticide categories. Moreover, we find that climate extremes are more important in determining pesticide expenditures than climate averages in several cases.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked social and economic havoc across the globe. This article addresses an aspect of trust that has not received wide attention in the context of the pandemic: how relational trust can affect compliance behaviour with health campaigns. This article uses a unique dataset of people receiving a COVID test after suspicion of infection. We use regression analysis to study the relation between compliance with mobility restrictions and institutional and relational trust. We find that trusting that close relations will be there for you in the case of falling ill is associated with a significant increase in the probability of complying with health campaigns as is trust that public institutions will respond appropriately to the pandemic. Additionally, we find no statistical relationship between compliance and trust in media outlets nor compliance and trust that community members (neighbours, co-workers or others) will care for you. The findings suggest that enhancing trust may improve compliance with mobility restrictions, however, increasing trust in specific groups may not aid in the effectiveness of some health campaigns. Importantly, nudging people towards compliance could be achieved by emphasising in campaigns that your behaviour could influence the health of those who you care about.

Ocean-related decadal climate variability (ODCV) has the potential to influence regional climates and, in turn, crop yields. ODCV event forecasts with associated climate and crop yield implication information can provide farmers with the opportunity to alter their crop mixes and input usage to adapt to the forecast conditions. We investigate the value of ODCV information and the nature of adaptations. This is done by estimating the changes in welfare under differing information scenarios using a nonlinear dynamic optimization model. We find evidence that both perfect forecasts and the use of forecasts permitting a conditional probability of future phase combinations can significantly increase agriculture consumer and producer welfare. This is a new result that is an estimate of the US national value of releasing ODCV forecasts and accompanying yield information.