Abstract
Opinion surveys are the dominant method to gauge U.S. farmland values. However, there lacks a systematic evaluation of how opinions are formulated and adjust over time. Using panel data of agricultural professionals from the Iowa Land Value Survey over 2005-2015, we investigate how surveyed experts update their farmland value estimates. We find that experts almost fully correct their prior “errors” in a single period. Expert’ opinions also incorporate most of the prevailing price innovations in one period. Our Bayesian estimation technique simultaneously addresses the unobservability and non-stationarity of prevailing farmland values, and the Nickell bias in short dynamic panels.
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