| By: |
Gregory K. Dow (Simon Fraser University);
Nancy Olewiler (Simon Fraser University);
Clyde G. Reed (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: |
Until about 13,000 years ago all humans obtained their food through hunting
and gathering, but thereafter people in some parts of the world began a
transition to agriculture. Recent data strongly implicate climate change as
the driving force behind the agricultural transition in southwest Asia. We
propose a model of this process in which population and technology respond
endogenously to climate. The key idea is that after a lengthy period of
favorable environmental conditions during which regional population grew
significantly, an abrupt climate reversal forced people to take refuge at a
few ecologically favored sites. The resulting spike in local population
density reduced the marginal product of labor in foraging and made agriculture
attractive. Once agriculture was initiated, rapid technological progress
through artificial selection on plant characteristics led to domesticated
varieties. Farming became a permanent part of the regional economy when this
productivity growth was combined with climate recovery |
| Keywords: |
origins of agriculture, foraging, hunting and gathering, climate change, population density, technical change, domestication, archaeology, anthropology, economic prehistory |
| JEL: |
N |
| Date: |
2005–09–09 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpeh:0509003&r=env |