The origins of the economy: a comparative study of distribution in primitive and peasant economies

New York: Academic Press • • Published In • Pages: ??•
By Pryor, Frederic L.

Abstract

Considerable disagreement exists in regard to the origin and distribution of economic phenomena such as money, slavery, markets, exchange, and imbalanced transfers. Here the author utilizes a worldwide cross-cultural sample of 60 pre-industrial "societies" to empirically test many economic hypotheses, with a focus on distributional mechanisms and institutions.

Note

"Societies" refers to specific communities, which were the units of analysis.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
World Ethnographic Sample (WES)Researcher's Own

Hypotheses (39)

HypothesisSupported
The presence of internal market exchange is directly related to the level of economic development (130).Supported
The presence of internal market exchange is directly related to the importance of subsistence production carried out by women and inversely proportional to the presence of a socially significant degree of polygyny (130).Supported
External trade is strongly related to the level of economic development (130).Not Supported
External trade is positively related to contact with the West and inversely related to the population of the total society (130).Supported
The presence of land rental markets is directly related to the importance of subsistence production carried out by women and inversely proportional to the presence of a socially significant degree of polygyny (147).Supported
The principal mode of food production influences several type of market exchange (148).Supported
The relative scarcity of certain factors of production play an important causal role in the presence or absence of market types (148).Supported
Cultural diffusion influences the market exchange of goods by affecting external trade (148).Supported
The market for goods tends to occur at the lowest levels of economic development (148).Supported
The markets for labor and for credit emerge at roughly the same higher levels of economic development (148).Supported
The markets for land and land rental occur only at higher levels of development (148).Supported
The existence of labor, credit, land, and land rental markets are independent of the existence of a goods market (148).Supported
The labor, credit, land, and land rental markets are not related to the existence of money (148).Supported
At the very lowest levels of development, societies have relatively little market exchange and, in addition, usually lack all types of money (182).Supported
At higher stages of development, money used for noncommercial payments appears before money used for commercial purposes.Some support
External commercial moneys appear at lower economic levels than internal commercial moneys (172).Mixed
The presence of reciprocal exchange in a society is more probable if the primary mode of subsistence is hunting, fishing, or agriculture (215).Supported
The presence of reciprocal exchange in a society is less probable if the primary mode of subsistence is gathering or herding (215).Supported
Reciprocal exchange is more probable in societies in which the unit of observation is relatively small (215).Supported
The occurrence of ceremonial reciprocity of goods is determined by the presence of extensive lineages in the society (215).Supported
Reciprocal exchange of labor is more likely to occur at societies at low levels of economic development (215).Supported
The festive reciprocal exchange of labor is also more likely to be found in agricultural societies (215).Supported
Reciprocal exchange of labor can be found in societies at much higher levels of economic development than the reciprocal exchange of goods (216).Supported
The emergence of slavery is an inevitable stage of societal development (222).Not Supported
In societies where wives do considerably more economic work than their husbands, slavery as economic capital is more likely to be present (246).Supported
Societies where slaves are primarily used as social capital are more likely to be polygynous (246).Supported
The presence of slavery is correlated to the occurrence of "open resources" (247).Not Supported
Extrasocietal slavery occurs at lower levels of economic development than intrasocietal slavery (247).Supported
Noncentric transfers of goods appear more frequently in societies at the lower end of the development scale (276).Supported
Non-centric transfers of goods are found with less frequency in societies where nomadic herding is the primary mode of production than in societies with other modes of production (276).Supported
Noncentric transfers occur with greater frequency in societies with small units of observation than in societies with large units of observation (276).Supported
The presence of noncentric transfers of goods is positively related to the presence of great inequality of total work of spouses (276).Supported
The presence of gambling is positively related to social inequality (276).Supported
The presence of gambling is inversely related to nomadic herding as a society's primary mode of production (276).Supported
The presence of gambling is positively related to the presence of money (276).Supported
The presence of centric transfers is related to high levels of economic development (304).Supported
The major determinants of centric transfers of labor are the level of economic development and the size of the units of observation in the society (305).Supported
The presence of centric transfers is somewhat determined by the presence or absence of exchange modes of distribution of goods that facilitate the gathering of taxes (305).Some support
Both centric transfers of goods and labor are associated with a political focus in which the leaders are attempting to finance various types of projects in the most expeditious manner (305).Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: erik.ringen