The research sheds new light on the mechanisms by which the adoption of agriculture led to complex hierarchies and states. By theoretical arguments and empirical analysis, it challenges the conventional “productivity theory” which holds that regional differences in land productivity explain regio
Research challenges the conventional theory that the transition from foraging to farming drove the development of complex, hierarchical societies by creating agricultural surplus, finds the adoption of cereal crops is the key factor.
Scientists find that it was not an increase in food production that led to complex hierarchies and states, but rather the transition to reliance on easily portable cereals. Professors Joram Mayshar, Omer Moav, and Luigi Pascali show that high land productivity on its own does not lead to the development of tax-levying states in their paper, “In The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?” published in the April issue of theThe key factor for the emergence of hierarchy is the adoption of cereal crops. In this short video, Professor Moav explains:
Professor Mayshar said: “A theory linking land productivity and surplus to the emergence of hierarchy has developed over a few centuries and became conventional in thousands of books and articles. We show, both theoretically and empirically, that this theory is flawed.” They also employed the natural experiment of the Columbian Exchange, the interchange of crops between the New World and the Old World in the late 15century which radically changed land productivity and the productivity advantage of cereals over roots and tubers in most countries in the world.
“The conventional theory is that this disparity is due to differences in land productivity. The conventional argument is that food surplus must be produced before a state can tax farmers’ crops, and therefore that high land productivity plays the key role.
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