Published: April 23, 2019
Anthro paper cover

In a recently-published edited volume, Social Reactors Project researchers Scott Ortman, Kaitlyn Davis, Jose Lobo and others argue that the economic history of the Rio Grande Pueblos of New Mexico provides a useful illustration of "Smithian Growth," a form of economic development first developed by Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations." Chapters in the volume marshall evidence from across the region and spanning four centuries to show that improved living standards were a predicable consequence of the social reactor process. Additional studies investigate the social, cultural and institutional developments that supported population aggregation in the centuries preceding Spanish contact. The book is an Anthropological Paper of the University of Arizona and is available for purchase from the University of Arizona Press