Benati, GiacomoGuerriero, Carmine2023-09-052023-09-052023-08-150277-3791https://hdl.handle.net/2445/201730Despite its apparently obvious conclusion that adverse environmental conditions must produce economic and institutional crises, the 'collapse archaeology' literature has been criticized for its lack of a formal theory, a credible measurement strategy and a proper understanding of the roles of environmental shocks. To tackle this issue, we propose to combine a time inconsistency theory of state formation and evolution¿i.e., state-building, institutional proxies based on this model and highly granular simulated climate data. To clarify our proposal, we apply it to the study of state-building in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, and we show that moderate droughts shaped these economies directly via deteriorated production conditions as well as indirectly via institutional resilience.application/pdfengcc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier Ltd, 2023http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/Canvi climàticArqueologiaMetodologia de les ciències socialsClimatic changeArchaeologyMethodology of social sciencesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article7379142023-09-05info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess