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Andrea Matranga Université di Torino E-mail: andrea.matranga@unito.it Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, qjae012, https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae012
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19 April 2024
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Andrea Matranga, The Ant and the Grasshopper: Seasonality and the Invention of Agriculture, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2024;, qjae012, https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae012
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Abstract
The Neolithic revolution saw the independent development of agriculture among at least seven unconnected hunter-gatherer populations. I propose that the rapid spread of agricultural techniques resulted from increased climatic seasonality causing hunter-gatherers to adopt a sedentary lifestyle and store food for the season of scarcity. Their newfound sedentary lifestyle and storage habits facilitated the invention of agriculture. I present a model and support it with global climate data and Neolithic adoption dates, showing that higher seasonality increased the likelihood of agriculture’s invention and its speed of adoption by neighbors. This study suggests that seasonality patterns played a dominant role in determining our species’ transition to farming.
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© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of President and Fellows of Harvard College.
This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
JEL
N50 - General, International, or Comparative O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes O44 - Environment and Growth
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