100 generations of wealth equality after the Neolithic transitions

Kerig, Tim; Crema, Enrico R.; Birch, Jennifer; Feinman, Gary M.; Green, Adam S.; Gronenborn, Detlef; Lawrence, Dan; Petrie, Cameron A.; Roscoe, Paul; Thompson, Amy E.; Kohler, Timothy A.

Abstract

Significance
Social inequality and productivity have never been greater than they are today, and there is likely a connection between the two. Focusing on 2,000 y before and after the transition to the new production mode that defined the Neolithic, we examined this relationship across a variety of spatiotemporal contexts. Are increasing inequalities correlated in time with increased food production considered to be the most important change in preindustrial economic history? Does the development of higher productivity and social inequality take place in the same way everywhere, or does it follow different pathways? We identify specific conditions of equality that were present at the beginning of humanity’s march toward today's heightened inequalities while emphasizing the fundamental indeterminacy of their development.

Abstract
From Rousseau onward, scholars have identified the transition to sedentary agriculture as crucial to the history of wealth inequality. Here, using the GINI project’s global database on disparities in residential size, we examine the effects of important innovations in plant cultivation, animal husbandry, and traction on wealth inequality. Over a series of regional case studies, we find no evidence of major changes in residential disparity before or after these technological innovations became widespread, and where the effects of systemic change are recognizable, they are ambiguous. The introduction of horticulture/farming is accompanied by a slight general increase in inequality, while subsequent innovations tend to have a leveling effect. Although increasing productivity and surplus are critical to generating wealth inequality, nothing in our data suggests that rising productivity alone led to greater wealth inequality.

Citation

Kerig, T., Crema, E. R., Birch, J., Feinman, G. M., Green, A. S., Gronenborn, D., Lawrence, D., Petrie, C. A., Roscoe, P., Thompson, A. E., & Kohler, T. A. (2025). 100 generations of wealth equality after the Neolithic transitions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(16), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400697122

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 14, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 22, 2025
• Deposit Date: Apr 15, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 15, 2025
• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0027-8424
• Electronic ISSN: 1091-6490
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 122
• Issue: 16
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400697122
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3790850
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400697122
• Additional Information: Received: 2024-03-12; Accepted: 2025-01-24; Published: 2025-04-14