Economic Review addressed issues of water supply, rights, and organization. These same issues have relevance today 100 years … later in face of growing concern about the availability of fresh water worldwide as demand grows and as supplies become more … uncertain due to the potential effects of climate change. The central point of this article is that appropriative water rights …

production in five semi-arid western states. We assemble county-level data on dams and other major water infrastructure … analyze the impact of water infrastructure investments on crop mix and yields in affected counties relative to similarly …-endowed counties that lack such infrastructure. We find that water infrastructure smoothes agricultural crop production and increases …