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Interesting contrast in how 'excess' is talked about in this essay and the book reviews flag/b_b posted. Grains grown as the staples and the default steady-state is the household growing to eat the capacity of the farm, any excess consumed/given within the community VS grain allows taxation allows elites who collect taxes to reinforce growing taxable grain. They aren't incompatible views. I think the next installment on bigger farms will be more comparable to the ancient cities described in Against the Grain.