Widowhood, Divorce, and Loss of Health Insurance Among Near Elderly Women: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

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IRRIGATION EFFICIENCY, WATER STORAGE, AND LONG RUN WATER CONSERVATION

A spreadsheet-based simulation model is used to illustrate the complex relationships between irrigation efficiency, water banking and water conservation under the prior appropriation doctrine. Increases in irrigation efficiency and/or establishment of water banks do not guarantee water conservation. Conservation requires reduction in the quantity of water consumptively used by agriculture.Land Economics/Use,

The Economic Consequences of Widowhood

We analyzed the economic consequences of a husband’s death using events that occurred between the first two waves of the HRS and AHEAD studies. We compared poverty transitions against published results from Social Security’s Retirement History Survey of the 1970s. Widowhood remains an important risk factor for transition into poverty, although somewhat less so than twenty years ago. Women over age 65 (AHEAD) are less likely to experience severe economic changes than women under age 61 (HRS). Several factors account for the age differences: the declining importance of husband’s earnings with age, the rising importance of Social Security benefits, and the occasionally large out-of-pocket medical expenses associated with husband’s death before Medicare eligibility. The greater economic impact of widowhood at younger ages is consistent with our cross-section evidence that poverty rates rise with duration of widowhood but are only weakly associated with age.

Effectiveness of Two Water Conservation Policies: An Integrated Modeling Approach

Agriculture in the Texas High Plains depends entirely on the Ogallala Aquifer. Texas enacted water conservation legislation to address declining reserves in the aquifer. We developed an integrated regional water policy model that links a hydrology model with an economic optimization model to estimate policy impacts with respect to economic cost and water conservation. Testing the effectiveness of two policies, a groundwater extraction tax and extraction quotas, we observe that neither significantly inhibits groundwater use. Although both policies conserve similar amounts of groundwater, the regional cost of the tax policy to agriculture is more than the quota policy.integrated regional water policy model, Texas High Plains, water conservation policy, hydrology model, economic optimization model, Ogallala Aquifer, tax policy, quota policy, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Q30, Q31, Q38,

Evaluating Sweat Gland Activity with Imprint Techniques

Starch-iodine and bromphenol blue are standard indicators used to record the distribution and number of actively secreting sweat glands. In this report, techniques employing these indicators were compared with methods utilizing newer plastic and silicone impressions.1. Both the plastic and silicone impressions yielded consistently greater sweat gland droplet counts than either of the indicators (p < 0.01).2. A simple technique applying thin films of a silicone rubber monomer to obtain sharp, permanent and uniformly reproducible sweat droplet impressions with little technical skill was judged superior to all methods evaluated

THE EFFECTS OF WATER RIGHTS AND IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGY ON STREAMFLOW AUGMENTATION COST IN THE SNAKE RIVER BASIN

Three species of salmon in the Snake River Basin have been listed as endangered. Recovery efforts for these fish include attempts to obtain increased quantities of water during smolt migration periods to improve habitat in the lower basin. Agriculture is the dominant user of surface flows in this region. This study investigates farmer cost of a contingent water contract requiring the agricultural release of stored irrigation supplies in low flow years during critical flow periods. Results show that contingent contracts can provide substantial quantities of water at a relatively modest cost without significantly affecting the agricultural base of the area.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Channel Catfish Diets Include Substantial Vegetation in a Missouri River Reservoir

Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are native to Lake Sharpe, a Missouri River mainstem reservoir, and are common in angler catches. Channel catfish growth has declined since the formation of the reservoir in 1963. Mean lengths at time of capture for channel catfish ages 9, 10, II, and 12 have decreased by 69, 55, 115, and 21S mm, respectively, since impoundment. The objective of this study was to document monthly food habits of channel catfish throughout the growing season (May-August) in Lake Sharpe to assess potential effects of diet on growth. Although channel catfish consumed both macro invertebrates and fishes as expected, they also consumed large quantities of submergent aquatic vegetation. Consumed vegetation contributed 3S-73% of the diet by weight over 2 channel catfish length groups «2S0 mm and ~2S0 mm total length) during the 4 months sampled. Consumption of substantial amounts of vegetation should be considered a suboptimal diet for channel catfish growth. Consequently, diets of channel catfish in Lake Sharpe could be a factor contributing to the observed slow growth of older catfish in this population

Depth and Littoral Habitat Association of Age-0 Yellow Perch in Two South Dakota Glacial Lakes

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) are a recreationally important species and represent a key ecological component of glacial lake littoral fish assemblages (Stone 1996, Blackwell et al. 1999). Research has shown a generalized pattern of juvenile (age-0) yellow perch spatial distribution wherein larvae hatch in near-shore areas, migrate to limnetic areas where they remain for approximately 40 d, and then return to demersal behaviors and within near-shore littoral habitats (Noble 1975, Whiteside et al. 1985). However, anomalous distribution and habitat use by age-0 yellow perch has been observed in South Dakota glacial lakes (Fisher and Willis 1997) and the spatial distribution and habitat association of post-larval (\u3e25 mm) age-0 perch is largely unverified in northern Great Plains glacial lakes. Herein, we report the depth distribution and near-shore (0–2 m depth) habitat association of post-larval, age-0 yellow perch (hereafter referred to as age-0 yellow perch) in two northeastern South Dakota glacial lakes