Poverty Trap in a Tributary Mode of Production: The Peasant Economy of Ethiopia

Berhanu Abegaz ()
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Berhanu Abegaz: Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

No 6, Working Papers from Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

Abstract: The paradox of EthiopiaÕs agrarian economy is that, despite underwriting a world civilization, the transition to an industrial economy has eluded it. Using a model of AfroAsiatic tributarism, we attribute this outcome to endemic extractive contests between a predominantly landed peasantry and a titled, prebendary overlord class. The latterÕs strategy of political accumulation inevitably engendered immiserization of overlord and peasant alike by privileging diversion over production. The surplus was then dissipated on unproductive consumption, national defence, and internecine strife. Lacking a strong state to mitigate predation and political instability, the Ethiopian peasant rationally ÔchoseÕ to be efficiently, albeit self-sufficiently, poor.

Keywords: Ethiopia; feudalism; tributarism; overlordship; landlordship; gebbar system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N57 O55 P52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2004-10-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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