IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-12-00175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Emergence of Agriculture: Trickle-Down Growth and Climate Change

Author

Listed:
  • Shinji Teraji

    (Yamaguchi University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes a model of the transition to agriculture by allowing heterogeneous agents to make the decision on whether to engage in farming or foraging. The threshold level, which divides foragers from farmers, depends on both agricultural productivity and foraging efficiency. As agricultural productivity improves, farming becomes possible to low-skilled agents, which leads to further improvement in agricultural productivity. Due to this trickle-down mechanism, the allocation of labor to agriculture magnifies the persistence of growth dynamics. The model also explains that a temporary climate deterioration can initiate the transition to agriculture by lowering foraging efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Shinji Teraji, 2012. "The Emergence of Agriculture: Trickle-Down Growth and Climate Change," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(1), pages 913-922.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00175
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2012/Volume32/EB-12-V32-I1-P86.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Vernon L, 1975. "The Primitive Hunter Culture, Pleistocene Extinction, and the Rise of Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(4), pages 727-755, August.
    2. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-92-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 503-530.
    4. Krugman, Paul, 1987. "The narrow moving band, the Dutch disease, and the competitive consequences of Mrs. Thatcher : Notes on trade in the presence of dynamic scale economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 41-55, October.
    5. Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2005. "From Foraging To Farming: Explaining The Neolithic Revolution," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 561-586, September.
    6. Matthew Baker, 2008. "A structural model of the transition to agriculture," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 257-292, December.
    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. Chu, Angus C. & Xu, Rongxin, 2024. "From Neolithic Revolution to industrialization," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 699-717, April.
    2. Quamrul Ashraf & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2013. "Climatic Fluctuations and the Di§usion of Agriculture," Working Papers 2013-3, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    3. Quamrul Ashraf & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2010. "The Climatic Origins of the Neolithic Revolution: Theory and Evidence," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0751, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    4. Angus C. Chu, 2023. "Natural selection and Neanderthal extinction in a Malthusian economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1641-1656, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Arthur J. Robson, 2010. "A bioeconomic view of the Neolithic transition to agriculture," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 280-300, February.
    7. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Holger Strulik, 2015. "The physiological foundations of the wealth of nations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 37-73, March.
    8. Foster, John, 2011. "Energy, aesthetics and knowledge in complex economic systems," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 88-100.
    9. Serge Svizzero, 2016. "Foraging Wild Resources and Sustainable Economic Development," Post-Print hal-02146473, HAL.
    10. Serge Svizzero, 2014. "Pre-Neolithic Economy," Post-Print hal-02152612, HAL.
    11. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter, 2007. "Long-Run Trends In Human Body Mass," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 367-387, June.
    12. Syed Mansoob Murshed, 2007. "What Turns a Blessing into a Curse? The Political Economy of Natural Resource Wealth (Invited Lecture)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 351-377.
    13. Riahi, Ideen, 2020. "How hominin dispersals and megafaunal extinctions influenced the birth of agriculture," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 227-250.
    14. Serge Svizzero, 2015. "The long-term decline in terms of trade and the neolithisation of Northern Europe," Post-Print hal-02150104, HAL.
    15. Matthew J. Baker, 2005. "Technological Progress, Population Growth, Property Rights, and the Transition to Agriculture," Departmental Working Papers 9, United States Naval Academy Department of Economics.
    16. Horan, Richard D. & Shogren, Jason F. & Bulte, Erwin H., 2008. "Competitive Exclusion, Diversification, and the Origins of Agriculture," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6410, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Guzmán, Ricardo Andrés & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2011. "The Neolithic Revolution from a price-theoretic perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 209-219, November.
    18. Barbier,Edward B., 2007. "Natural Resources and Economic Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521706513.
    19. Richard Horan & Erwin Bulte & Jason Shogren, 2008. "Coevolution of human speech and trade," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 293-313, December.
    20. Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2007. "Made for Toil: Natural selection at the dawn of agriculture," PSE Working Papers halshs-00587788, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Origin of agriculture; Agricultural productivity; Foraging; Trickle-down growth; Climate change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00175. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.