Journal of Development Economics 35 (1991) 261-280. North-Holland On the role of information in decision making* The case of sorghum yield in Burkina Faso Jean-Paul Chavas zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG Uniwrsity of Wisconsin, M adison, W I 53706. C/S,4 Patricia M. Kristjanson University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA Peter Matlon International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso Received December 1988. final version received December 1989 Absfract: This paper investigates the role of temporal uncertainty and information issues in economic decisions. It shows that the nature of the economic environment (e.g. the production technology) can inlluence the valuation of information. which in turn affects the choice functions. This is illustrated by an empirical application to yield response analysis in Burkina Faso. The paper stresses the importance of technology and information valuation in risk behavior. 1. Introduction The influence of risk on economic decisions has been the subject of much research. The most common approach has involved the modeling of ‘timeless risk’ in an expected utility framework. ‘Timeless risk’ is used here to refer to the case where either uncertainty is resolved immediately or all decisions are made at the same time. In this context, many attempts have been made to investigate and measure the timeless risk preferences of decision makers’ *This research was conducted in the context of a cooperative agreement between ICRISAT and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Partial funding was provided by a grant from the World Bank. ‘Timeless risk preferences are detined by the curvature of the von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function of a decision maker facing timeless risk [see Arrow (1965), Pratt (196-t)]. 0304-3878/91/603.50 6 1991-Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)