Historical Underpinnings of Institutions: Evidence from the Neolithic Revolution

This paper provides evidence that the Neolithic Revolution, during which humans adopted agriculture for the \u85rst time, a¤ected modern institutions by inuencing the spread of early institutions. Using novel vegetation data and carbon dates that show the initial agricultural adoption from various Neolithic archaeological sites, as well as data on the level of executive power and local tax levels in Europe and East Asia, the results suggest that the regions which experienced the adoption of agriculture early maintained more extractive institutions that have persisted in the long run. 1