Data and Code for: The Economic Origins of Government

This repository contains data and replication files for: The Economic Origins of Government.<br><br>Abstract:<br><br>We test between cooperative and extractive theories of the
origins of government. We use river shifts in southern Iraq as a natural
experiment, in a new archeological panel dataset. A shift away creates a local demand for a
government to coordinate because private river irrigation needs to be replaced
with public canals. It disincentivizes local extraction as land is no longer
productive without irrigation. Consistent with a cooperative theory of
government, a river shift away led to state formation, canal construction, and
the payment of tribute. We argue that the first governments coordinated between
extended households which implemented public good provision.<br>