A study led by Professor Dan Lawrence, of Durham University in the UK, found that across 10 millennia, more unequal distributions of wealth correlated with longer-term human settlement. However, the team are keen to stress that one factor is not causally dependent on the other, giving hope that humankind’s survival is not linked to ever-increasing inequality.
A study led by Professor Dan Lawrence, of Durham University in the UK, found that across 10 millennia, more unequal distributions of wealth correlated with longer-term human settlement. However, the team are keen to stress that one factor is not causally dependent on the other, giving hope that humankind’s survival is not linked to ever-increasing inequality.
The research is part of a Special Feature of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, titled „Global Dynamics of Wealth Inequality.“
Sustainability is defined by the UN as „meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“ The study investigated the relationship between the two key aspects of this definition: continuity and equality.
The team used data on house size from across the world, covering the last 10,000 years, analyzing records of over 47,500 homes across over 2,990 archaeological sites.
