Preface 



The problems of multiple purpose river development cut across 

 many disciplines — not only economics with various special fields 

 such as production and value theory, public finance, and welfare 

 economics; but also a number of other major areas, including 

 engineering, geography, and public administration. This study is 

 exclusively economic in viewpoint, although the authors have 

 sought to avoid doing violence to the other disciplines that have a 

 place in analysis of the development of water resources. Also, the 

 authors hope that the application of economic analysis will illumi- 

 nate the broader aspects of multipurpose development. One of the 

 persistent difficulties in assessing the economic efficiency of par- 

 ticular river basin programs has been the fairly general absence of 

 a meaningful framework for economic analysis of river system 

 development. The first part of this study attempts to sketch out a 

 suitable framework for this purpose, which is then used for analysis 

 of actual cases in the second part of the study. 



Our effort has been to select and analyze significant issues against 

 a combined background of experience in the water resources field 

 and professional training in the field of economic analysis. In such 

 an effort, many things will not seem new to the professional 

 economist, and others will be familiar to those experienced in the 

 field of water resources development. At the same time, it is hoped 

 that this combination of experience and training will result in 

 much which is new — or presented in a new perspective — not only 

 to economists and other professionals engaged in the field of water 

 resources, but also to all serious students of issues '"n this area. 

 In addition, one particular aim has been to prepare u>eful working 

 material for upper-division or first-year graduate students in applied 

 economics or conservation curricula sponsored by numerous univer- 

 sities for education in the field of natural resources. 



