Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40228130›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Changes in agglomeration and productivity are poor predictors of inequality across the archaeological record.

Scott G Ortman, Amy Bogaard, Jessica Munson, Dan Lawrence, Adam S Green, Gary M Feinman, Shadreck Chirikure, Johannes H Uhl, Stefan Leyk

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Toward multiscalar measures of inequality in archaeology.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  4. Introducing the Special Feature on housing differences and inequality over the very long term.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  5. Labor, land, and the global dynamics of economic inequality.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Scott G OrtmanInstitute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309.ORCID 0000-0003-0709-5287
Amy BogaardSanta Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501.ORCID 0000-0002-6716-8890
Jessica MunsonDepartment of Anthropology-Sociology, Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA 17701.ORCID 0000-0002-2362-3804
Dan LawrenceDepartment of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-5613-1243
Adam S GreenDepartment of Archaeology and Environment, University of York, York YO1 7EP, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-3324-5165
Gary M FeinmanNegaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605.ORCID 0000-0002-4787-2733
Shadreck ChirikureSchool of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-2183-4253
Johannes H UhlInstitute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309.ORCID 0000-0002-4861-5915
Stefan LeykInstitute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309.ORCID 0000-0001-9180-4853

Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF) 2121976National Science Foundation (NSF) 2122123
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We address three basic issues regarding the long-term dynamics of inequality in society. First, we consider the interpretation of residence sizes in socioeconomic terms by comparing statistical patterns extracted from the Global Dynamics of Inequality (GINI) Project database with those from the 21st-century United States. Second, we examine the degree to which the size and productivity of human networks is systematically related to inequality. Finally, we investigate relationships between productivity and productivity growth distributions for patterns of inequality and development across preindustrial societies. We find that across preindustrial societies residence size distributions provide a reasonable proxy for the distribution of productivity (income, a flow of physical and social resources to the group) and a minimum estimator for the distribution of wealth (a stock of such resources accumulated over time); that scale and productivity affect levels of inequality but account for only a small fraction of the observed variance across societies; and that inequality growth is independent of productivity growth, on average and over time. These findings have important implications for efforts to promote more equitable economic development in the present.

Indexed as

archaeologyeconomic developmentinequalityreal estateurban science

Identifiers

PMID40228130
PMCPMC12037055

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.