Re: the Frank challenge

It strikes me that what Frank is trying to do is posit the importance of a
level of analysis that falls squarely between two others, and that he
hasn't yet persuaded too many of us that this third level is more
important than the other two.

There is the level of analysis of capitalism versus the tributary system
(which includes feudalism):  various historical modes of production.
We can call this Level 3.

Then there is Level 1 which is demographic analysis.  This level 
intersects the biological, species level and the social level.  While some
are opposed to any focus here on ideological grounds, it is obviously a
large and productive field of research.

AGF, it seems to me, stakes out an intermediate level, Level 2, which
falls between demographics and modes of production.  He claims that there
is one system, and one type of economic activity over the entire course of
human history (and prehistory?).  So it strikes most of us as
simultaneously too general (versus the analysis of capitalism, for
instance), and not general enough (versus population dynamics).

RH