Baker, Matthew; Bulte, Erwin; Weisdorf, Jacob - Økonomisk Institut, Københavns Universitet - 2006
We analyze development trajectories of early civilizations where population size and technology are endogenous, and … support a ruler. The ruler provides an efficient level of law and order, but creams off part of society’s surplus for his own … consumption. Switching to hierarchy occurs if the state of technology exceeds a threshold value, but societies may also be …