Add to ORKGThe adoption of agriculture during the Neolithic period triggered the \u85rst demographic explosion in history. When fertility returned to its original level, agriculturalists were more numerous, more poorly nourished, and worked longer hours than their hunter-gatherer ances-tors. We develop a dynamic price-theoretic model that rationalizes these events. In the short run, people are lured into agriculture by the increased labor productivity of both adults and children. In the long run, the growth in population overrides the productivity gains, and the later generations of agriculturalists end up being worse o ¤ than the hunter-gatherers. Counter-intuitively, the increase in the labor productivity of children causes the long-term reduction i...