2002 World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists

Egalitarianism in hunter-gatherer societies takes the form of implicit taxes on renewable resources the proceeds of which are redistributed among all members of the community. It is argued that these taxes represent an evolutionary response to the dynamics of large game hunting. The implicit resource tax raises output and welfare per capita; high tax rates can prevent the emergence of a ''feast and famine'' pattern of growth. These predictions are found to be consistent with evidence from the !Kung San hunter-gatherer society in southern Africa. Moreover, they shed light on the evolution of other preindustrial societies. It is demonstrated that the decline of Easter Island could have been avoided by implicit resource taxation.



	Paper Title:	Egalitarianism And Resource Conservation In Hunter-Gatherer Societies
	Presenting Author:	Rabindra Nath Chakraborty (University of St. Gallen)
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	Abstract:	Egalitarianism in hunter-gatherer societies takes the form of implicit taxes on renewable resources the proceeds of which are redistributed among all members of the community. It is argued that these taxes represent an evolutionary response to the dynamics of large game hunting. The implicit resource tax raises output and welfare per capita; high tax rates can prevent the emergence of a ''feast and famine'' pattern of growth. These predictions are found to be consistent with evidence from the !Kung San hunter-gatherer society in southern Africa. Moreover, they shed light on the evolution of other preindustrial societies. It is demonstrated that the decline of Easter Island could have been avoided by implicit resource taxation.
	Link to paper:	http://weber.ucsd.edu/~carsonvs/papers/41.pdf

	Session / Day / Time	1I / Monday / 8:00 - 10:00 am

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