Economy of the Inca Empire

The economy of the Inca Empire was based on local traditions of solidarity and mutualism, transported to an imperial scale.^[1] It was based on the institution of reciprocity, considered the socioeconomic and political system of the Pre-Columbian Andes.^[2]

Inca society is considered to have had some of the most successful centrally organized economies in history.^[3] Its effectiveness was achieved through the successful control of labor and the regulation of tribute resources. In Inca society, collective labor was the cornerstone for economic productivity and the achieving of common prosperity.^[4] Members of an ayllu (the basic unit of socio-territorial organisation) developed various traditions of solidarity to adapt to the Andean environnement. The economic prosperity of the Inca State caused the Spanish conquerors to be impressed by the foreign forms of organisation.^[5] According to each ayllu, labor was divided by region, with agriculture centralized in the most productive areas; ceramic production, road construction, textile production, and other skills were also tasks distributed among members of an ayllu.^[6] After local needs were satisfied, the state apparatus gathered all surplus that is gathered from ayllus and allocated it where it was needed. Populations of local chiefdoms in the Inca Empire received clothes, food, health care, and schooling in exchange for their labour.^[7]

The Sapa Inca governed by means of personal relations with the rulers of the local states, adopting the ethnological concept of "reciprocity" or "exchange".

^ Henri, Favre (2020). Les Incas [The Incas] (in French) (10th ed.). Paris: PUF.
^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ D'Altroy, Terence N. (1992). Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
^ Morris, Craig; Von Hagan, Andriana (1993). The Inka Empire and Its Andean Origins. New York: Abbeville Press.
^ MacQuarrie, Kim (2008). The Last Days of the Incas. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743260503.
^ Hyslop, John (1984). The Inka Road System. New York: Academic Press, Inc.
^ Davies, Nigel (1995). The Incas. Colorado: University Press of Colorado.

[1] Henri, Favre (2020). Les Incas [The Incas] (in French) (10th ed.). Paris: PUF.

[:3-2] Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] D'Altroy, Terence N. (1992). Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

[:0-4] Morris, Craig; Von Hagan, Andriana (1993). The Inka Empire and Its Andean Origins. New York: Abbeville Press.

[5] MacQuarrie, Kim (2008). The Last Days of the Incas. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743260503.

[:2-6] Hyslop, John (1984). The Inka Road System. New York: Academic Press, Inc.

[7] Davies, Nigel (1995). The Incas. Colorado: University Press of Colorado.

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