The Neolithic Revolution from a Price-theoretic perspective

dc.contributor.author	Guzmán, Ricardo Andrés
dc.contributor.author	Weisdorf, Jacob
dc.date.accessioned	2016-10-05T20:50:50Z
dc.date.available	2016-10-05T20:50:50Z
dc.date.issued	01/11/2011
dc.description.abstract	The adoption of agriculture during the Neolithic period triggered the first demographic explosion in history. When fertility returned to its original level, agriculturalists were more numerous, more poorly nourished, and worked longer hours than their hunter-gatherer ancestors. We develop a dynamic price-theoretic model that rationalizes these events. In the short run, people are lured into agriculture by the increased labor productivity of both adults and children. In the long run, the growth in population overrides the productivity gains, and the later generations of agriculturalists end up being worse-off than the hunter-gatherers. Counter-intuitively, the increase in the labor productivity of children causes the long-run reduction in welfare. In the long run, the increase in adult labor productivity only contributes to population growth. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11447/749
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2010.08.007
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Journal of Development Economics, 2011, vol. 96, n° 2, p. 209-219
dc.subject	Hunter-gatherers
dc.subject	Child labor
dc.subject	Thomas Malthus
dc.subject	Neolithic revolution
dc.title	The Neolithic Revolution from a Price-theoretic perspective
dc.type	Artículo

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