Technology development and political and economic power: evolution of global inequality

Abstract

Abstract Global inequality, in combination with various global problems, has been one of the most pressing concerns of today's world. There are numerous models that explain the development of technology, political and economic power concentration, and resulting social inequality within a single society or region. The models that apply global and long-run perspectives having world-systems as a unit of analysis, however, are rare. This study conducts simulation modeling to examine the formation of hierarchies among polities through the expansion of political economic networks and concentration of power having evolving technologies. Two types of technology-subsistence technologies and technologies of power-have evolved for successful economic and political interactions as well as dominations among polities, resulting in the formation of global hierarchy. The dynamics are modeled and simulated by numerically solving partial differential equations and integro-differential equations that describe polity interactions through trade and warfare networks and selection of advantageous technologies. The validity of the model is examined using city population and state/empire size data since 2000BCE to the present. Models with such a broader perspective allow explanation of the fundamental relationship between technological development.