Trade and warfare in cross-cultural perspective

Social Evolution & History Vol/Iss. 7 Published In Pages: 40-55
By Korotayev, Andrey V.

Hypothesis

The importance of trade will be related to warfare frequency (42)

Note

Relationship found to vary with level of political organization. In independent communities, there is a significant negative correlation between the importance of trade and internal warfare frequency (Rho = -0.22; p = 0.04) and only marginally significant negative correlation between the importance of trade and external warfare (Rho = -0.16; p = 0.09). Within simple chiefdoms there is a significant negative correlation between the importance of trade and external warfare frequency (Rho = -0.28; p = 0.04) and totally insignificant correlation between the importance of trade and internal warfare frequency (Rho = -0.05; p = 0.39) (45).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Spearman’s rank-order correlationSupportedp<.05see commentsUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Political OrganizationIndependent CombinedTerritorial Hierarchy
TradeIndependent CombinedExternal Trade, Internal Trade
Warfare, Frequency OfDependentIngroup Antagonisms, Instigation Of War, Warfare