Perhaps the degree of accuracy with which migration has been recorded and studied in the U.S. is unique to the relative youth of the nation in historical terms. However, many of the phenomena associated with migration that have economic significance are still very poorly understood. One of these is the functioning of the rural-urban labor market in the migration process. This particular aspect of the migration process is examined in this paper.

Specific information on the job research process of 396 migrants from Eastern Kentucky is reported and compared with previous research findings - with subsequent generalizations regarding the policy implications of observed patterns of job search activity.

This paper discusses plant location models applied to a honey processing-marketing cooperative firm with emphasis on sensitivity of findings to some alternative objectives and specifications. Though the study was nationwide in scope, the southern regions of the United States played a significant role in the analyses.

The first objective was to determine the number, size, and location of honey processing plants which would minimize total assembly, processing, and product shipment cost. In pursuit of the first objective, two of several questions receiving consideration were: 1. In comparing an optimizing least-cost result to an actual operating cost result, what is a valid specification of “actual” cost? 2. Is there a simple way of checking on the validity of a minimum cost solution?

The commercial farm problem is often defined as a disequilibrium condition in which agriculture's productive capacity exceeds utilization at socially acceptable prices. However, commodity supplies are determined by the level and composition of resources committed to their production. While the commercial farm problem surfaces as a production-utilization disequilibrium, basically it is a resource imbalance problem.

Resource imbalances in agriculture result in an inefficient organization of the industry. To be efficient, resource use in the farm industry must satisfy three conditions:

1. the allocation of resources among agricultural and non-agricultural products must result in output and price levels that reward identical resources equally,

2. the use of resources in agriculture must result in a product mix geared to the relative demands for different products, and

3. each farm product must be produced at minimum factor cost.

The research reported in this paper focuses on the last efficiency condition. More specifically, we estimate the level and combination of resources for historical production levels of feed grains, wheat, soybeans, cotton and tobacco that minimize factor cost.

During the past two decades corn production has increased in the South Atlantic region defined as Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia but not as rapidly as total U. S. production. The region accounted for 6.7 percent of the U. S. corn production in 1950 compared with 3.7 percent in 1970. During the same period soybean production has increased in the South Atlantic relative to other areas, accounting for 5.3 percent of U. S. production in 1970, up from 2.9 percent in 1950.

The major consumer of both corn and soybeans is the livestock industry. During the past twenty years this industry has expanded in the South Atlantic. In terms of grain consuming animal units (GCAU), the region accounted for 7.4 percent of U. S. production in 1953 compared with 9.1 percent in 1970. As a result the area is a deficit producer of both corn and soybeans, although with the relative increase of soybean production, the soybean deficit is expected to decrease.

It is widely recognized that outdoor recreation is an important segment of our economy. Most recent efforts to quantify the size of the recreational segment of our economy result in determining only isolated parts of total recreational value. This is particularly true of efforts to determine the value of various aspects of publicly owned natural resource systems. This paper presents procedures to estimate total recreational value of water in a river basin system: the Kissimmee River Basin, Florida.

In September, 1968 the Tennessee Valley Authority recommended construction of two dams on the Duck River in middle Tennessee. Subsequently, an environmental impact statement (EIS) was prepared which further described the plan and provided a summary of the national economic efficiency justification for its implementaion. Table 1 summarizes the EIS justification. However, the accuracy of the EIS analysis may be subject to question. This paper evaluates the sensitivity of the EIS national economic analysis to changes in expansion benefit estimates, reconsideration of cost estimates and their use, and the discount rate used for analysis. Also discussed is the consideration given to alternatives to the Duck River Project, and institutional limitations on the TVA's mission that affect the use of economic analysis.

The simulation model discussed in this paper evolved from problems encountered in estimating future United States cropland availability as part of the OBERS agricultural projection system. Available literature describing land use changes indicate that land resource economists have not been concerned with projecting future patterns of land use implied by historic observations.

Some research has involved selection of optimum cropping patterns for agricultural cropland subject to alternative flood plain management policies. However, the broader application of such models between sectors (agriculture, industrial, urban, etc.), in the main, has been ignored. Because of “historical bias” there has not been a concerted effort to develop analytical capabilities for use in evaluating the future implications of alternative regional and/or national policies designed to alter trends in land use shifts.

Recent patterns of rural land use in Georgia have stressed urban aggrandizement and the transformation of a significant portion of the available rural land into forests. The area covered by commercial forests in Georgia has increased 21 percent over the past quarter century to the point where two out of every three acres in Georgia are presently growing tree crops. During the 1958-68 decade the proportion of land in farms in Georgia fell from 31.3 percent to 27.0 percent, representing a withdrawal of approximately 1.6 million acres from farm use. As a partial consequence of this shift in rural land use patterns, the price of farm land over the past ten years has increased more rapidly in Georgia than in any other state but one.

Of all markets, the land market has been thought to be one of the most difficult to explain. Techniques for predicting land prices leave much to be desired. Nevertheless, the importance of this market continues to grow as fixed costs of commercial farm firms escalate, due to farm expansion and other factors.

Conventional techniques for building models to explain farm land prices have not been as useful as when similar statistical procedures have been used elsewhere. Data problems have been conspicuous. The heterogeneity of many populations has created difficulties. Clearly, additional refinement of models is needed.