John V. Murra
John Victor Murra (1916–2006) was a Ukrainian-born American anthropologist and ethnohistorian of the Andes, noted for his influential "vertical archipelago" model of Andean economic organization and his studies of the Inca state; he was a longtime professor at Cornell University.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. La Organización Económica Del Estado Inca
A concise reconstruction of how the Inca state administered a non-monetary, centrally coordinated economy grounded in labor tribute (mit’a), reciprocity, and redistribution. It details the roles of ayllus, state storehouses (qollqa), and road networks in mobilizing and allocating food, textiles, and labor across diverse ecological zones, highlighting the “vertical archipelago” strategy by which communities controlled resources at multiple altitudes. Using colonial records and archaeology, it explains bureaucratic accounting, censuses, and corvée, and clarifies the distinction between staple and prestige finance to show how imperial projects and social obligations were sustained without markets or money.