Labor, land, and the global dynamics of economic inequality

• Autores: Bogaard, Amy; Cruz, Pablo; Fochesato, Mattia; Birch, Jennifer; Cervantes Quequezana, Gabriela; Chirikure, Shadreck; Crema, Enrico R.; Feinman, Gary; Green, Adam S.; Hamerow, Helena; Jin, Guiyun; Kerig, Tim; Lawrence, Dan; McCoy, Mark D.; Munson, Jessica; Ortman, Scott; Petrie, Cameron; Roscoe, Paul
• Año de publicación: 2025
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: LAND USE; AGRICULTURE; WEALTH; RESIDENTIAL AREA; STORAGE
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Here, we assess the extent to which land use relating to food acquisition (farming, herding, foraging) and associated value regimes shaped past economic inequality. We consider the hypothesis that land-use systems in which production was limited by heritable material wealth (such as land) sustained higher levels of inequality than those limited by (free) human labor. We address this hypothesis using the Global Dynamics of InequalIty (GINI) project database, estimating economic inequalities based on disparities in residential unit area and storage capacity within sites in different world regions and through time. We find that inequality was significantly greater in land-limited than labor-limited regimes, whether based on residence area or storage capacity, though governance could moderate these differences. Increasing inequality with larger residence and/or site size is associated with underlying shifts from labor- to land-limited economies. Transitions from labor- to land-limited regimes also appear to underlie the development of extended political hierarchies. Increases in inequality after cultivation became common in each hemisphere similarly reflect shifts from labor- to land-limited systems. Land-limited systems in the eastern hemisphere, incorporating animal traction, exhibit an upward trend in inequality over time, while a downward trend in the western hemisphere reflects the lower persistence of land-limited regimes based solely on human labor.
Fil: Bogaard, Amy. University of Oxford; Reino Unido
Fil: Cruz, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Unidad Ejecutora en Ciencias Sociales Regionales y Humanidades. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Unidad Ejecutora en Ciencias Sociales Regionales y Humanidades; Argentina
Fil: Fochesato, Mattia. Bocconi University; Italia
Fil: Birch, Jennifer. Georgia State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Cervantes Quequezana, Gabriela. University of Pittsburgh; Estados Unidos
Fil: Chirikure, Shadreck. University of Oxford; Reino Unido
Fil: Crema, Enrico R.. University of Cambridge; Estados Unidos
Fil: Feinman, Gary. Field Museum Of Natural History; Estados Unidos
Fil: Green, Adam S.. University Of York; Reino Unido
Fil: Hamerow, Helena. University of Oxford; Reino Unido
Fil: Jin, Guiyun. Shandong University; China
Fil: Kerig, Tim. Christian Albrechts Universitat Zu Kiel.; Alemania
Fil: Lawrence, Dan. University of Durham; Reino Unido
Fil: McCoy, Mark D.. Florida State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Munson, Jessica. Lycoming College; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ortman, Scott. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados Unidos
Fil: Petrie, Cameron. University of Cambridge; Estados Unidos
Fil: Roscoe, Paul. The University Of Maine (the University Of Maine);