Energy, hierarchy and the origin of inequality

Blair Fix

PLOS ONE, 2019, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-32

Abstract: Where should we look to understand the origin of inequality? I propose an unusual window of evidence—modern societies. I hypothesize that evidence for the origin of inequality is encoded in the institutional structure of industrial societies. To test this idea, I use a model to project modern trends into the past. This model takes the modern relation between energy, hierarchy, and inequality and creates a hindcast of the origin of inequality. The results are broadly consistent with the available evidence. The model predicts an explosion of inequality with the transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture, followed by a plateau. This finding potentially opens a new window of evidence into the origin of inequality.

Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0215692

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215692

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