IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/smu/ecowpa/2201.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Shadow of the Neolithic Revolution on Life Expectancy: A Double-Edged Sword

Author

Listed:
  • Raphael Franck

    (Hebrew University)

  • Oded Galor

    (Brown University)

  • Omer Moav

    (University of Warwick)

  • Ömer Özak

    (Southern Methodist University)

Abstract

This research explores the persistent effect of the Neolithic Revolution on the evolution of life expectancy in the course of human history. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that the onset of the Neolithic Revolution and the associated rise in infectious diseases triggered a process of adaptation reducing mortality from infectious diseases while increasing the propensity for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Exploiting an exogenous source of variation in the timing of the Neolithic Revolution across French regions, the analysis establishes the presence of these conflicting forces - the beneficial effects on life expectancy before the second epidemiological transition and their adverse effects thereafter.

Suggested Citation

  • Raphael Franck & Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Ömer Özak, 2022. "The Shadow of the Neolithic Revolution on Life Expectancy: A Double-Edged Sword," Departmental Working Papers 2201, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ftp1.economics.smu.edu/WorkingPapers/2022/OZAK/OZAK-2022-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Lafourcade, Miren & Thisse, Jacques-François & Toutain, Jean-Claude, 2011. "The rise and fall of spatial inequalities in France: A long-run perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 243-271, April.
    2. Maarten Bosker & Eltjo Buringh & Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2013. "From Baghdad to London: Unraveling Urban Development in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, 800–1800," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1418-1437, October.
    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. María Ayuda & Fernando Collantes & Vicente Pinilla, 2010. "From locational fundamentals to increasing returns: the spatial concentration of population in Spain, 1787–2000," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 25-50, March.
    2. Sandy Fréret & Denis Maguain, 2017. "The effects of agglomeration on tax competition: evidence from a two-regime spatial panel model on French data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(6), pages 1100-1140, December.
    3. Huning, Thilo R. & Wahl, Fabian, 2017. "Lord of the lemons: Origin and dynamics of state capacity," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 22-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    4. Güneş Aşık & Ulaş Karakoç & Şevket Pamuk, 2023. "Regional inequalities and the West–East divide in Turkey since 1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1305-1332, November.
    5. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2011. "New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Fabian Wahl, 2014. "Origins of Political Change Ñ The Case of Late Medieval Guild Revolts," Working Papers 0069, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    7. Franck, Raphaël & Galor, Oded, 2021. "Flowers of evil? Industrialization and long run development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 108-128.
    8. Brülhart, Marius & Desmet, Klaus & Klinke, Gian-Paolo, 2020. "The shrinking advantage of market potential," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    9. Marion Drut & Aurélie Mahieux, 2014. "Correcting agglomeration economies: How air pollution matters," Working Papers hal-01007019, HAL.
    10. Thisse, Jacques-François & Proost, Stef, 2015. "Skilled Cities, Regional Disparities, and Efficient Transport: The state of the art and a research agenda," CEPR Discussion Papers 10790, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Raffaele Danna & Martina Iori & Andrea Mina, 2022. "A Numerical Revolution: The diffusion of practical mathematics and the growth of pre-modern European economies," LEM Papers Series 2022/18, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    12. David Cuberes & Rafael González-Val, 2017. "The effect of the Spanish Reconquest on Iberian cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(3), pages 375-416, May.
    13. Yuxian Chen & Yannis M. Ioannides & Ferdinand Rauch, 2022. "Asymmetric Trading Costs and Ancient Greek Cities," Economics Series Working Papers 969, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Rafael González‐Val, 2019. "Historical urban growth in Europe (1300–1800)," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(2), pages 1115-1136, April.
    15. Vincent Bignon & Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa, 2018. "The Toll of Tariffs: Protectionism, Education and Fertility in Late 19th Century France," Working papers 690, Banque de France.
    16. Fabian Siuda & Uwe Sunde, 2021. "Disease and demographic development: the legacy of the plague," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1-30, March.
    17. Pflüger, Michael & Tabuchi, Takatoshi, 2010. "The size of regions with land use for production," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 481-489, November.
    18. Fabien Candau, 2011. "Is Agglomeration Desirable?," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 101-102, pages 203-227.
    19. Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Julio Martínez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado Fabregat, 2013. "Why did Spanish regions not converge before the Civil War? Agglomeration and (regional) growth revisited: Spain, 1870-1930," Working Papers. Serie EC 2014-05, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    20. Buringh, Eltjo & Campbell, Bruce M.S. & Rijpma, Auke & van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2020. "Church building and the economy during Europe’s ‘Age of the Cathedrals’, 700–1500 CE," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Life Expectancy; Health; Mortality; Neolithic Revolution; Epidemiological Transition; Infectious Disease; Auto-immune Disease; Diabetes; Crohn's Disease; HIV; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:smu:ecowpa:2201. 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: Ömer Özak (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.smu.edu/economics .

    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.