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New study reveals wealth inequality was never inevitable
A recent study published in the journal PNAS is overturning traditional wisdom regarding the origins and inevitability of wealth inequality
Led by Gary Feinman, the MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago, the study uses house size as a proxy for household wealth to estimate Gini coefficients—a standard measure of inequality—for societies that encompass 10,000 years of human history and six continents. “It allows us to empirically and systematically look at patterns of inequality over time.” The study analyzed settlements built between the end of the Pleistocene and the onset of European colonialism, across North America and Mesoamerica, Europe, and Asia. In some cases, human communities developed systems that curbed the concentration of wealth, using governance and cooperative institutions as “leveling mechanisms.” Feinman added, “The traditional thinking is that once you get larger societies with formal leaders, or once you have farming, inequality is going to go way up.
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