French. B. C. 1%0. Some considerations in estimating assem- 

 bly cost functions for agricultural processing operations. J, 

 Farm Econ. 42:767-798. 



Fuller, S. W. and Monty Washburn. \')'!-i. Measurement and 

 analysis of variable inputs used in the cotton ginning process. 

 New Mexico Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Rep. 288. 



Henry, W. R. and J. A. Seagraves. 1960. Economic aspects of 

 broiler production density. J. Farm Econ. 42:1-17. 



Hurt. Verner G.. and Thomas E. Tramel. 1965. Alternative 

 formulations of the transshipment problem. J. Farm. Econ. 



47:763-773. 



King. Gordon A., and Samuel H. Logan. 1964. Optimum loca- 

 tion, number and size of processing plants with raw product 

 and final product shipments. J. Farm Econ. 46:94-108. 



Kloth. Donald W.. and Leo V. Blakely. 1971. Optimum dairy 

 plant location with economics of size and market-share restric- 

 tions. Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 53:461-466. 



Ladd. George W.. and M. Patrick Halvorson. 1970. Parametric 

 solutions to the Stollsteimer model. Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 

 52:578-580. 



Leath, Mack N., and James E. Martin. 1966. The transshipment 

 problem v\ith inequality restraints. J. Farm. Econ. 48:894-908. 



Polopolus, Leo. 1965. A working model for plant numbers and 

 locations. J. Farm Econ. 45:631-645. 



Toft, H. 1.. P. A. Cassidy, and W. O. McCarthy. 1970. Sensi- 

 tivity testing and the plant location problem. Amer. J. Agr. 

 Econ. 52:403-410. 



Warrach, Allan A., and Lehman B, Fletcher. 1970. Plant loca- 

 tion model suboptimization for large problems. Amer. J. Agr. 

 Econ. 52:587-590. 



Williamson, J. C. 1962. The equilibrium size of marketing 

 plants in a spatial market. J, Farm Econ. 44:953-967. 



Water Rights in the West 



Arid or semiarid conditions in the Western 

 States have led to modification and. in some in- 

 stances, repudiation of the riparian water-rights 

 doctrine regarding the use of watercourses. Most 

 of these States have an alternative body of law — 

 the appropriation doctrine — and a few also have 

 Pueblo water rights. Hawaii has unique water 

 rights. Still other water law doctrines apply to cer- 

 tain ground water and other water sources. 



Researchers have completed a comparative 

 analysis of the development and status of the 

 constitutional provisions, statutes, reported court 

 decisions, and some administrative regulations 

 and policies regarding water rights laws in the 19 

 Western States. 



This work is reported in three volumes. Volume 

 1 deals with types and characteristics of water- 

 courses, the property nature of water and water 

 rights, water rights systems, and — in considerable 

 detail — the nature, acquisition, and exercise of the 

 appropriative water right. Volume II treats the 

 riparian doctrine; the Pueblo water right; unique 



22 AGRICULTURE 



Hawaiian water rights; the protection, loss, adju- 

 dication, and administration of water rights in 

 watercourses; diffused surface waters and other 

 waters at the surface; and ground water rights. 

 Volume III includes chapters on Federal-State 

 relations, interstate matters, international matters 

 affecting water rights, and summaries of the water 

 rights systems in each of the 19 Western States. 



Hutchins, Wells, A., Harold H. Ellis, and J. Peter Debraal. 

 1976, Water rights laws in the nineteen western states. U.S. 

 Dept. Agr , Vol 111 (in process). 



Resource Ownership and Property Rights 



Concepts of property rights and land use have 

 been explicated by treating property rights as a 

 communication system to be evaluated in terms of 

 efficiency, equality, privacy, and freedom. 



Specifically, interrelations among persons with 

 respect to property constitute an information sys- 

 tem. Through this system are transmitted mes- 

 sages such as recorded deeds, open and notorious 

 possession, boundary markers, leases, oral decla- 

 rations, and payment of taxes. The media are insti- 

 tutions such as markets, courts, law enforcement, 

 and other administrative agencies and law offices. 

 To the extent that the structure of property insti- 

 tution influences, maintains, and reinforces pro- 

 perty rules and their interpretation, the medium 

 does determine the message. 



Thus, information may be contained and gov- 

 erned by rules of property. Patents, copyrights, 

 and trademarks are forms of intellectual property 

 which affect not only individual behavior, but the 

 performance of an economy or society. Property, 

 itself, can be viewed as an information system of 

 right holders. So conceived, it is possible to cut 

 across traditional legal compartments and examine 

 the performance of the property system. The pa- 

 tent system is supposed to encourage inventive- 

 ness, but does it? The land title system is sup- 

 posed to ensure efficient transfer and firm posses- 

 sion of land, but does it? This research has impli- 

 cations for the efficient utilization of resources in 

 the production of food and fiber and for the ob- 

 served inflation in the value of farmland. 



Wunderlich, Gene. 1972. Perspectives on property: An intro- 

 duction, perspectives on property. Gene Wunderlich and W. L. 

 Gibson, eds. Penn State Univ.. Inst, for Res. on land and water 

 resources, Univers ty Park, Pa. pp. 1-8. 



Wunderlich, Gene. 1973. Public costs and land records. Amer. 

 Univ. Law. Rev. 22:333--368. 



Wunderlich, Gene. 1974. Property rights and information. 

 Annals of Amer, Acad, of Pol. and Soc. Sci. 412:80-96, 



Human Capital Investment Decisions 



Development of the concept of human capital 

 has led to several promising lines of research by 



