Editing State (polity) (section)

=== Earliest states ===
Theories for the emergence of the earliest states emphasize [[Cereal|grain agriculture]] and settled populations as necessary conditions.<ref name="Wang-2021" />

However, not all types of property are equally exposed to the risk of looting or equally subject to taxation. Goods differ in their shelf life. Certain [[Agriculture|agricultural products]], fish, and [[Dairy product|dairy]] spoil quickly and cannot be stored without [[refrigeration]] or freezing technology, which was unavailable in ancient times. As a result, such perishable goods were of little interest to either looters or the king (In ancient times, especially before the invention of money, [[tax]]ation was primarily collected from agricultural produce.) Both looters and rulers sought goods with long shelf lives, such as grains ([[wheat]], [[barley]], [[rice]], [[Maize|corn]], etc.), which, under proper storage conditions, could be preserved for extended periods. With the domestication of wheat and the establishment of agricultural communities, the need for protection from bandits arose, along with the emergence of strong governance to provide it. Mayshar et al. (2020) demonstrated that societies cultivating grains tended to develop hierarchical structures with a ruling elite that collected taxes, whereas societies that relied on root [[crop]]s (which have short shelf lives) did not develop such hierarchies. The cultivation of grains became concentrated in regions with fertile soil, where [[grain]] production was more profitable than root crops, even after accounting for taxes imposed by rulers and raids by looters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mayshar |first=Joram |last2=Moav |first2=Omer |last3=Pascali |first3=Luigi |date=April 2022 |title=The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability? |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/718372 |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=130 |issue=4 |pages=1091–1144 |doi=10.1086/718372 |issn=0022-3808|hdl=10230/57736 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

However, protection was not the only public good necessitating a centralized government. The shift to agriculture based on irrigation systems, as seen in [[ancient Egypt]], required cooperation among farmers. An individual farmer could not control the floods from the [[Nile|Nile River]] alone. Managing the vast amounts of water during the annual [[flood]]s and utilizing them efficiently allowed for a significant increase in agricultural yield, but this required an elaborate network of [[Canal|irrigation canals]] to distribute water efficiently across fields while minimizing waste.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mayshar |first=Joram |last2=Moav |first2=Omer |last3=Neeman |first3=Zvika |date=August 2017 |title=Geography, Transparency, and Institutions |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/geography-transparency-and-institutions/C80E17AD5932E319A94D28D77AA87580 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=111 |issue=3 |pages=622–636 |doi=10.1017/S0003055417000132 |issn=0003-0554}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eyre |first=Christopher |date=1997-01-01 |title=Peasants and "Modern" Leasing Strategies in Ancient Egypt |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jesh/40/4/article-p367_3.xml |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |language=en |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=367–390 |doi=10.1163/1568520972601503 |issn=1568-5209}}</ref>

Such a system exhibited characteristics of a [[natural monopoly]], as its construction involved substantial fixed costs, making it a lucrative asset for the ruling elite. Bentzen, Kaarsen, and Wingender (2017) showed that in pre-modern societies, regions dependent on irrigation-intensive agriculture experienced higher levels of land inequality. The concentration of land and control over water resources strengthened elite power, enabling them to resist [[democratization]] in the modern era. Even today, countries that rely on irrigated agriculture tend to be less democratic than those relying on rain-fed farming.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bentzen |first=Jeanet Sinding |last2=Kaarsen |first2=Nicolai |last3=Wingender |first3=Asger Moll |date=2017 |title=Irrigation and Autocracy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/90023410 |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–53 |issn=1542-4766}}</ref>

Some argue that climate change led to a greater concentration of human populations around dwindling waterways.<ref name="Wang-2021" />