Serge Svizzero, Clement Tisdell 222 ISSN 2071-789X INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY Svizzero, S., Tisdell, C. (2014), Inequality and Wealth Creation in Ancient History: Malthus’ Theory Reconsidered, Economics and Sociology, Vol. 7, No 3, pp. 222-239. DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2014/7-3/17 Serge Svizzero, INEQUALITY AND WEALTH Faculté de Droit et d’Economie, Université de La Réunion, CREATION IN ANCIENT HISTORY: France, MALTHUS’ THEORY RECONSIDERED E-mail: serge.svizzero@univ- reunion.fr Clement Tisdell, ABSTRACT. The main purpose of this paper is to School of Economics, propose the hypothesis that inequality was essential for the The University of Queensland, sustainability and ‘development’ of early agriculturally Australia, based societies that developed in Prehistory and Ancient E-mail:
[email protected] History. This was so for varied reasons: there was a need for some members of societies – the dominant class also called the elite – to escape from the Malthusian trap. In most cases, agriculture produced a bigger economic surplus eventually. Managerial problems – such as the ones Received: June, 2014 associated with storage, the division of labor, irrigation, 1st Revision: September, 2014 trade – being part of the consequences of the Neolithic Accepted: October, 2014 revolution, created pressures to develop more centralized political organizations, a process which led later to the formation of the early states. This process allowed the appearance of powerful local chiefs who changed the DOI: 10.14254/2071- nature of their original communities with new forms of 789X.2014/7-3/17 social organization, in which one individual and his enlarged family – transformed into a ruling elite – received the benefits of the labor of a large number of serfs belonging to less-favored communities in neighboring areas.