Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2020
Abstract
We propose two games that resemble the conditions of human societies before and after the Neolithic agricultural revolution to test the hypothesis that the modes of production affected the level of inequality. We replicate the findings that foraging societies organized themselves around social division of labour and were more egalitarian than farming societies. We also find evidence that i) the transition from foraging to farming societies was heterogeneous, with groups that quickly adopted the agricultural practice and others that never experienced it, and ii) inequality in farming societies increases as agriculture settles. Our experimental data further suggest that the transition from foraging to farming could be determined by cultural and institutional preconditions, including the way in which land ownership and property rights emerged.
Recommended Citation
Morales, A.J. & Rodriguez-Lara, I. (2020). Inequality in foraging and farming societies: An experimental approach. ESI Working Paper 20-20. https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/315/
Comments
ESI Working Paper 20-20
Previously titled "An Experiment on the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. Causes and Impact on Inequality".