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Property Rights, Warfare and the Neolithic Transition

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  • Rowthorn, Robert
  • Seabright, Paul

Abstract

This paper explains the multiple adoption of agriculture around ten thousand years ago, in spite of the fact that the first farmers suffered worse health and nutrition than their hunter gatherer predecessors. If output is harder for farmers to defend, adoption may entail increased defense investments, and equilibrium consumption levels may decline as agricultural productivity increases over a significant range, before eventually increasing thereafter. Agricultural adoption may have been a prisoners’ dilemma in that adoption was individually attractive even though all groups would have been better off committing not to adopt while the initial productivity advantage of agriculture remained low.

Suggested Citation

  • Rowthorn, Robert & Seabright, Paul, 2010. "Property Rights, Warfare and the Neolithic Transition," IDEI Working Papers 654, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    • Handle: RePEc:ide:wpaper:23850
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. A neolithic prisonner's dilemma
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-02-02 21:05:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Levine, David K. & Modica, Salvatore, 2013. "Anti-Malthus: Conflict and the evolution of societies," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 289-306.
    2. David K. Levine & Salvatore Modica, 2013. "Conflict, evolution, hegemony, and the power of the state," Working Papers 2013-023, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    3. Rohan Dutta & David K. Levine & Nicholas W. Papageorge & Lemin Wu, 2018. "Entertaining Malthus: Bread, Circuses, And Economic Growth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 358-380, January.
    4. Svizzero, Serge & Tisdell, Clem, 2014. "Inequality and Wealth Creation in Ancient History: Malthus' Theory Reconsidered," Economic Theory, Applications and Issues Working Papers 183285, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    5. Matranga, Andrea, 2017. "The Ant and the Grasshopper: Seasonality and the Invention of Agriculture," MPRA Paper 76626, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Quamrul Ashraf & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2015. "Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 589-609, July.
    7. Serge Svizzero, 2015. "Farmers' spatial behaviour, demographic density dependence and the spread of Neolithic agriculture in Central Europe," Post-Print hal-02150100, HAL.
    8. David K. Levine & Salvatore Modica, 2012. "Conflict and the evolution of societies," Working Papers 2012-032, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    9. Aldo Rustichini, 2023. "Economics with a biological foundation," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-40, June.
    10. David K Levine & Salvatore Modica, 2016. "An Evolutionary Model of Intervention and Peace," Levine's Bibliography 786969000000001391, UCLA Department of Economics.
    11. Dow, Gregory K. & Mitchell, Leanna & Reed, Clyde G., 2017. "The economics of early warfare over land," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 297-305.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agriculture; defense; property rights; contest functions; Neolithic transition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General

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