The Relationship Between Land Productivity and Hierarchy

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We use data from the food and agriculture organization, which has estimates for any area in the world. Using a linear regression on many variables, but the horse race is between two competing variables. One is some proxy or land productivity. Another is a proxy for cereals. So we have a clear data which translate the predicted output to calories so it's comparable right a ton of tubers is not a ton of series so you need to translate it to calories. We're not the first to do it.

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.