Cereals, Appropriability and Hierarchy

• Authors: Luigi Pascali.
• BSE Working Paper: 110316 | September 15
• Keywords: institutions , state capacity , geography , hierarchy
• JEL codes: D02, D82, H10, O43
• institutions
• state capacity
• geography
• hierarchy

We propose that the development of social hierarchy following the Neolithic Revolution was
an outcome of the ability of the emergent elite to appropriate cereal crops from farmers and
not a result of land productivity, as argued by conventional theory. We argue that cereals are
easier to appropriate than roots and tubers, and that regional differences in the suitability of
land for different crops explain therefore differences in the formation of hierarchy and states. A
simple model illustrates our main theoretical argument. Our empirical investigation shows that
land suitability for cereals relative to suitability for tubers explains the formation of hierarchical
institutions and states, whereas land productivity does not.