2023 Best EI Article Award Announced

"The long-run agglomeration effects of early agriculture in Europe"

• Andrew Dickens, Brock University
• Nils-Petter Lagerlöf, York University

ABSTRACT: We study the effects of an early introduction of agriculture (Neolithic Transition) on modern agglomeration, using a new dataset on carbon dated organic materials found at archaeological sites in Northern Europe. We find a positive effect of early agriculture, in particular within countries, which contrasts with a negative or zero correlation found in studies using older data, covering a larger region that includes both Europe and the Middle East. We argue that this reflects a mix of positive long-run effects on urban agglomeration, and negative effects on state institutions, which show up to different degrees depending on context.

Check it out online: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13140