Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10742
Authors: Joram Mayshar; Omer Moav; Zvika Neeman; Luigi Pascali
Abstract: We propose that the development of social hierarchy following the Neolithic Revolution was an outcome of the ability of the emergent elite to appropriate cereal crops from farmers and not a result of land productivity, as argued by conventional theory. We argue that cereals are easier to appropriate than roots and tubers, and that regional differences in the suitability of land for different crops explain therefore differences in the formation of hierarchy and states. A simple model illustrates our main theoretical argument. Our empirical investigation shows that land suitability for cereals relative to suitability for tubers explains the formation of hierarchical institutions and states, whereas land productivity does not.
Keywords: geography; hierarchy; institutions; state capacity
JEL Codes: D02; D82; H10; O43
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| appropriability of cereal crops (Q15) | emergence of social hierarchy (Z13) |
| land suitability for cereals (Q15) | appropriability of cereal crops (Q15) |
| appropriability of cereal crops (Q15) | hierarchical institutions (D02) |
| land suitability for cereals relative to tubers (Q15) | variations in hierarchical institutions (D73) |
| presence of cereals (L66) | demand for protection among farmers (J43) |
| demand for protection among farmers (J43) | emergence of a non-food producing elite (N93) |
| cultivation of cereals (P32) | greater hierarchical complexity (L22) |
| transition to farming based on appropriable cereals (P32) | development of complex social structures (Z13) |
| reliance on non-appropriable tubers (Q37) | lack of hierarchy (D73) |