Agriculture, Diffusion and Development: Ripple Effects of the Neolithic Revolution

Are the effects of the Neolithic revolution still impacting on incomes across the world today? I find strong support for this proposition using new, country-specific estimates of the timing of the agricultural transition and provide evidence that the differences are due to how technological diffusion is accounted for. A correction for world migrations since 1500 significantly improves the fit. Transition year also helps to explain income in 1500 itself, and an alternative measure of pre-modern development, state history, has similar ability to predict income in 1500 and 1997. Copyright (c) The London School of Economics and Political Science 2007.