The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?

The conventional theory about the origin of the state is that the adoption of farming increased land productivity, which led to the production of food surplus. This surplus was a prerequisite for the emergence of tax-levying elites and, eventually, states. We challenge this theory and propose that hierarchy arose as a result of the shift to dependence on appropriable cereal grains. Our empirical investigation, utilizing multiple data sets spanning several millennia, demonstrates a causal effect of the cultivation of cereals on hierarchy, without finding a similar effect for land productivity. We further support our claims with several case studies

Das human kapital

Issued under the auspices of the Centre's research programme in International MacroeconomicsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.9512(no 2701) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Natural selection and the origin of economic growth

Issued under the auspices of the Centre's Research Programme in International MacroeconomicsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.9512(no 2727) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Ability biased technological transition, wage inequality and growth

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.9512(1972) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo