The Dawn of Civilization. Metal Trade and the Rise of Hierarchy

Matthias Flückiger, Mario Larch, Markus Ludwig and Luigi Pascali

No 1423, Working Papers from Barcelona School of Economics

Abstract: In the latter half of the fourth millennium BC, our ancestors witnessed a remarkable transformation, progressing from simple agrarian villages to complex urban civilizations. In regions as far apart as the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, the first states appeared together with writing, cities with populations exceeding 10,000, and unprecedented socio-economic inequalities. The cause of this “Urban Revolution” remains unclear. We present new empirical evidence suggesting that the discovery of bronze and the ensuing long-distance trade played a crucial role. Using novel panel data and 2SLS techniques, we demonstrate that trade corridors linking metal mines to fertile lands were more likely to experience the Urban Revolution. We propose that transit bottlenecks facilitated the emergence of a new taxing elite. We formally test this appropriability theory and provide several case studies in support.

Keywords: international trade; gravity; state capacity; urban revolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D02 F10 H10 N40 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://bse.eu/sites/default/files/working_paper_pdfs/1423_0.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Dawn of Civilization: Metal Trade and the Rise of Hierarchy (2024)
Working Paper: The dawn of civilization. Metal trade and the rise of hierarchy (2024)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bge:wpaper:1423

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Barcelona School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bruno Guallar ().