Egyptian Pharaohs: The Worlds First Keynesian's?

I am interested in the intersection of economics, history and beer. Especially beer.

Beer was a very important beverage to the ancient Egyptians. When humans shifted from hunting and gathering to farming, they saved surplus grain, which was fermented into beer. Farmers would grow barley which would be later be stored in a communal storage area. Priests would record the amounts on cuneiform tablets.

When the Nile river flooded, these farmers would be out of work, since their fields would be underwater. The Pharaohs, having a large, unemployed populace that still needed to be fed would need a way to put these people to work and distribute the surplus foodgrains.

National Geographic:

Graffiti indicates that at least some of these workers took pride in their work, calling their teams "Friends of Khufu," "Drunkards of Menkaure," and so on—names indicating allegiances to pharaohs.
An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers built the Pyramids at Giza over 80 years. Much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded.

Cuneiform from 3000 bc records the beer rations given to workers in Mesopotamia.

The earliest tablets were written inscriptions that represent the work of administrators recording the allocation of rations, the most important ration in terms of frequency being the inscription for beer, an upright jar with a pointed base.

Workers were paid in beer, and work on the pyramids occurred when the Nile river flooded as it allowed the large limestone blocks to be easily transported as well as a time of high unemployment.

In a peculiar way, the pyramids were one of the first public works programs, allowing the government to step in to stabalize the economy. Workers were not slaves as is commonly believed but out of work farmers on the government dole. Thousands of clay tablets document worker wages which were paid in beer and bread.

“Fermentation and civilization are inseparable.” - John Ciardi (1916-1986)