Article ID: | iaor201111975 |
Volume: | 44 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 1044 |
End Page Number: | 1047 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2011 |
Journal: | Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'conomique |
Authors: | Rowthorn Robert |
Keywords: | agriculture & food, simulation |
Arthur Robson (2010) presents an ingenious model to explain why the standard of living apparently fell during the Neolithic transition from hunter‐gathering to agriculture. His demonstration relies on a production function that has a strong property with regard to technical change. This note shows how Robson’s result can be obtained using a more familiar set of restrictions on technical change. Under these restrictions, an improvement in technology will cause parents to invest less per child and the standard of living will fall.