I Think It's an Important Part of Our Humanity

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Omar: I don't know how much we really truly understand about our pre modern history of undergathering and Dunbar groups of 47 people. But when I think about this evolution to agriculture and the rise of the city state Mesopotamia, Samaria, Egypt, they're still affecting us today. And so, if you're a saava, wheat, rice, these things take a lot of preparation to make them suitable for human consumption.

Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation of the State. Farming, so went the theory, led to agricultural surplus, and that surplus is the prerequisite for taxation and a State. But economist Omer Moav of the University of Warwick and Reichman University argues that it wasn't farming but the farming of a particular kind of crop (but not others) that led to hierarchy and the State. Moav explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts storability is the key dimension that allows for taxation and a State. The conversation includes a discussion of why it's important to understand the past and the challenges of confirming or refuting theories about history.