IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02274889.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unsustainable Mining Development and the Collapse of Some Ancient Societies: Economic Reasons

Author

Listed:
  • Clement Tisdell

    (UQ [All campuses : Brisbane, Dutton Park Gatton, Herston, St Lucia and other locations] - The University of Queensland)

  • Serge Svizzero

    (CEMOI - Centre d'Économie et de Management de l'Océan Indien - UR - Université de La Réunion)

Abstract

The literature explaining social collapse mainly focuses on factors such as wars, climate change or disease, as exemplified by numerous examples of collapses which have occurred during the Late Bronze Age in the Near East and in the South-eastern Mediterranean region. This paper aims at demonstrating that collapse can also have economic reasons. Indeed, collapse may be the outcome of an economic growth process which is inherently unsustainable. More precisely, we claim that several ancient societies collapsed because their form of economic development eventually proved to be unable to sustain their standard of living. It is believed that the Únĕtice societies (which existed in the central European Early Bronze Age) were among those that collapsed for that reason. Two different simple models are presented to demonstrate how agricultural economies of this type which introduced bronze mining and metallurgy were unable to sustain their economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Clement Tisdell & Serge Svizzero, 2019. "Unsustainable Mining Development and the Collapse of Some Ancient Societies: Economic Reasons," Post-Print hal-02274889, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02274889
    DOI: 10.20431/2454-8677.0503003
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02274889
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02274889/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.20431/2454-8677.0503003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ricardo, David, 1821. "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 3, number ricardo1821.
    2. Clement Allan Tisdell & Serge Svizzero, 2018. "The Economic Rise and Fall of the Silesian Únĕtice Cultural Population : a Case of Ecologically Unsustainable Development ?," Post-Print hal-02145471, HAL.
    3. Serge Svizzero & Clement Allan Tisdell, 2014. "Inequality and Wealth Creation in Ancient History: Malthus’ Theory Reconsidered," Post-Print hal-02153096, HAL.
    4. Clement Tisdell & Serge Svizzero, 2020. "The Ability in Antiquity of Some Agrarian Societies to Avoid the Malthusian Trap and Develop," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 202-227, April.
    5. Serge Svizzero & Clement Allan Tisdell, 2018. "The Demise of the Únĕtice Culture due to the Reduced Availability of Natural Resources for Bronze Production," Post-Print hal-02145465, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sergio Cesaratto, 2019. "Heterodox economics and Economic Anthropology: reflections prompted by two books," Department of Economics University of Siena 807, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    2. Rune Skarstein, 2007. "Free Trade: A Dead End for Underdeveloped Economies," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 347-367.
    3. Brausmann, Alexandra & Bretschger, Lucas, 2018. "Economic development on a finite planet with stochastic soil degradation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-19.
    4. Ayhan, Fatih & Elal, Onuray, 2023. "The IMPACTS of technological change on employment: Evidence from OECD countries with panel data analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    5. Bahar, Dany & Rosenow, Samuel & Stein, Ernesto & Wagner, Rodrigo, 2019. "Export take-offs and acceleration: Unpacking cross-sector linkages in the evolution of comparative advantage," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 48-60.
    6. Sergeyev, Dmitriy & Iovino, Luigi, 2018. "Central Bank Balance Sheet Policies Without Rational Expectations," CEPR Discussion Papers 13100, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Joseph Francois & M. Rombout, 2000. "Preferential Trade Arrangements, Induced Investment, and National Income in a Heckscher-Ohlin-Ramsey Model," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-061/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    8. Banfi, Silvia & Filippini, Massimo, 2010. "Resource rent taxation and benchmarking--A new perspective for the Swiss hydropower sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2302-2308, May.
    9. Michalis Nikiforos, 2020. "Demand, Distribution, Productivity, Structural Change, and (Secular?) Stagnation," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_945, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. H. W. Arndt, 1984. "Political Economy," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 60(3), pages 266-273, September.
    11. Emilio Depetris-Chauvin & Ömer Özak, 2020. "The origins of the division of labor in pre-industrial times," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 297-340, September.
    12. Boerner, Lars & Severgnini, Battista, 2015. "Time for growth," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64495, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Ramona Dumitriu & Razvan Stefanescu, 2015. "The Relationship Between Romanian Exports And Economic Growth After The Adhesion To European Union," Risk in Contemporary Economy, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, pages 17-26.
    14. Daniel P. McMillen, 2011. "Using Location, Agglomeration, and Policy Issues to Teach Urban Economics," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 65, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Cristian Silviu BANACU & Marcela Izabela CIOPA & Olga OLARU, 2011. "The Pair Education And Innovation – Knowledge Society’S Icon," Proceedings of the International Conference Investments and Economic Recovery, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 10(1), pages 26-31, December.
    16. Viengsaythong DALASENG & NIU Xiongying & Khaysy SRITHILAT, 2022. "Cross- Country Investigation of the Impact of Trade Openness and FDI on Economic Growth: A Case of Developing Countries," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 9(1), pages 49-73.
    17. Landesmann, Michael A, 2022. "Luigi Pasinetti on growth and structural change in international economic relations," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 556-564.
    18. Miguel D. Ramirez, 2020. "Capital as a social process: A Marxian perspective," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 9(1), pages 41-71.
    19. Tulla Antoni F., 2019. "Sustainable Rural Development Requires Value-Added Activities Linked with Comparative Advantage: The Case of the Catalan Pyrenees," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 11(2), pages 229-256, June.
    20. Raphael W. Bostic & Stanley D. Longhofer & Christian L. Redfearn, 2007. "Land Leverage: Decomposing Home Price Dynamics," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 183-208, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unsustainable development; Bronze Age; elite; economic surplus; mining productivity; Únĕtice culture.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02274889. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.