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Study sheds new light on the origin of civilization (phys.org)
3 points by iNic on May 9, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment


The property of being preserveable affects more than just the appropriability of resources. Cereals being preserveable also would have made them more tradeable, and trade increases productivity.

Taxation is a concept related to trade, in that it enables resources to be transferred to facilitate larger-scale coordination, and with it, greater division of labor. But it is this ability to transfer resources, to facilitate larger scale coordination and division of labor that I believe would be the underlying economic advantage provided by cereal crops, with taxation just being a subset of this class of interaction.

It stands to reason that the ability to store cereal surpluses more easily also increased cereal crops' utility as a food source by leading to less waste through spoilage.




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