Study sheds new light on the origin of civilization

The theory that the transition from farming to food production drove the development of complex, hierarchical societies by creating agricultural surplus in areas of fertile land has been challenged by new research.

In The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability, Professors Joram Mayshar, Omer Moav and Luigi Pascali show that high land productivity on its own does not.

The emergence of hierarchy is dependent on the adoption of cereals. Professor Moav explains in a short video.

The authors theorize that the nature of cereals makes them easier to appropriate as tax than root crops which are less storable.

The researchers used multiple data sets and empirical evidence to show that the emergence of hierarchy is not caused by land productivity.

Professor Mayshar said that a theory linking land productivity and surplus to the emergence of hierarchy has been developed over a few centuries. We show that the theory is flawed.

Underpinning the study was the development and analysis of a large number of data sets, including the level of complexity in society, the geographic distribution of wild relatives of domesticated plants, and land suitability for various crops.

Professor Pascali said that using novel data, they were able to show that complex hierarchies, like complex chiefdoms and states, arose in areas in which cereal crops were de-facto the only available crops. The most productive lands, those in which both cereals and roots were available and productive, did not experience the same political developments.

In the late 15th century, they used the natural experiment of the Columbian Exchange to change land productivity and the productivity advantage of cereals over roots and tubers in most countries in the world.

It took nearly a decade of hard work to construct these new data sets, investigate case studies, and develop the theory and empirical strategy. We are very pleased to see that the paper is in a journal.

Professor Moav said that following the transition from farming to hierarchy, tax-levying states have emerged. Protection, law and order provided by these states enabled industrialization and the unprecedented welfare enjoyed today in many countries.

The conventional theory is that there are differences in land productivity. The conventional argument is that food surplus must be produced before a state can tax farmers, and therefore that high land productivity plays a key role.

Professor Mayshar said that they challenge the conventional productivity theory because it was not an increase in food production that led to complex hierarchies and states, but rather the transition to reliance on appropriable cereals that facilitate taxation by the emerging elite. A taxing elite emerged when it became possible to grow appropriate crops.

hierarchy was likely to develop only where the climate and geography favored cereals. Our data shows that the productivity advantage of cereals over tubers increases the likelihood of hierarchy emerging.

It is a curse of plenty that prevented the emergence of states and impeded economic development.

More information: Joram Mayshar et al, The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?, Journal of Political Economy (2021). DOI: 10.1086/718372 Journal information: Journal of Political Economy Citation: Study sheds new light on the origin of civilization (2022, April 11) retrieved 11 April 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-04-civilization.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.