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Agriculture, Diffusion and Development: Ripple Effects of the Neolithic Revolution
Author(s) -
PUTTERMAN LOUIS
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00652.x
Subject(s) - agriculture , green revolution , diffusion , economics , agricultural revolution , proposition , agricultural economics , geography , archaeology , philosophy , physics , epistemology , thermodynamics
Are the effects of the Neolithic revolution still impacting on incomes across the world today? I find strong support for this proposition using new, country‐specific estimates of the timing of the agricultural transition and provide evidence that the differences are due to how technological diffusion is accounted for. A correction for world migrations since 1500 significantly improves the fit. Transition year also helps to explain income in 1500 itself, and an alternative measure of pre‐modern development, state history, has similar ability to predict income in 1500 and 1997.