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The origins of sedentism: Climate, population, and technology

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  • Dow, Gregory K.
  • Reed, Clyde G.

Abstract

For most of the time that anatomically modern humans have existed, small mobile foraging bands followed natural resources. Starting around 15,000 years ago, communities of sedentary foragers began to emerge. This transition has been detected archeologically in numerous regions of the world, including southwest Asia and Japan. In these cases and others, the transition to sedentary foraging occurred several millennia before the transition to agriculture. We develop an economic model of this process that combines climate change, population growth, and technical progress. Better climate led to a larger population for Malthusian reasons, and in some cases this led to technological innovation. A novel insight from our theory is that technological change caused a ratchet effect that made sedentism persist even in cases where climate subsequently deteriorated.

Suggested Citation

  • Dow, Gregory K. & Reed, Clyde G., 2015. "The origins of sedentism: Climate, population, and technology," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 56-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:119:y:2015:i:c:p:56-71
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.07.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory K. Dow & Clyde G. Reed, 2013. "The Origins of Inequality: Insiders, Outsiders, Elites, and Commoners," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(3), pages 609-641.
    2. Dow, Gregory K. & Reed, Clyde G., 2011. "Stagnation and innovation before agriculture," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 339-350, March.
    3. Matthew J. Baker, 2003. "An Equilibrium Conflict Model of Land Tenure in Hunter-Gatherer Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 124-173, February.
    4. Gregory Dow & Clyde Reed & Nancy Olewiler, 2009. "Climate reversals and the transition to agriculture," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 27-53, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gregory K. Dow & Clyde G. Reed & Simon Woodcock, 2016. "The Economics Of Exogamous Marriage In Small-Scale Societies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(4), pages 1805-1823, October.
    2. 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.
    3. Javier Mejía, 2018. "The Network Formation Origin of Tribal Societies," Documentos CEDE 16381, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    4. 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.
    5. Ideen A. Riahi, 2022. "Why Eurasia? A probe into the origins of global inequalities," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(1), pages 105-147, January.

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