One of School of Economics top professors, Emeritus Professor Clement Tisdell and Professor Serge Svizzero of University of La Réunion (France) have completed a focused project on the development in ancient agricultural economies, exploring how and why it was possible for such economies to develop and survive despite the presence of Malthusian population dynamics.
Among other things, this publication throws doubt on the proposition of some leading economists, that only democratic and relatively egalitarian societies can be long lasting and that these conditions are prerequisites for maintaining economic development. The proposition of these economists is at odds with historical experience, and with associated economic theory.
