Omer Moav Presents Cutting Edge Research in Coventry for the ESRC Festival of Social Science

CAGE’s contribution to the 20^th ESRC Festival of Social Sciences Festival was a public lecture by Professor Omer Moav on "The Origin of States - how farming shaped the world".

Over thirty people gathered at the recently restored and reopened St. Mary's Guildhall in Coventry on the evening of Wednesday 26^th October to hear the lecture.

They discovered answers to the following questions and more:

“Have you ever wondered how civilisations developed? And why some countries today are so much richer than others?”

“The long-established view, dating back to Economist Adam Smith (1723-1790), is that farming surplus led to taxation, which in turn led to the development of hierarchies.

New research by Joram Mayshar, Omer Moav and Luigi Pascali challenges that view. They find that it was not farming surplus that affected the development of civilisations, but the types of crops grown.”

The event was produced in partnership with the Warwick Institute of Engagement and St. Mary’s Guildhall who gave use of their spectacular city centre venue.

In addition to having the opportunity to attend in person Prof. Moav’s lecture was livestreamed via the Warwick Institute of Engagement YouTube channel. It can be watched below.

Reflecting upon the event Prof. Moav said:

“The ESRC Festival of Social Sciences was the perfect opportunity for me to share the seventeen years of research underpinning my article with Joram Mayshar and Luigi Pascali “The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?” published in the Journal of Political Economy, with interested members of the general public.

I would recommend participating in future ESRC Festivals of Social Science to other researchers. My thanks to St. Mary’s Guildhall for being an excellent venue.”