Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EvolvingEconomics (Human motivation: evolutionary foundations and their implications for economics)
Período documentado: 2022-01-01 hasta 2023-06-30
Economics provides decision-makers with theoretical and empirical tools to analyze market and non-market interactions. Such analyses require sound assumptions about human motivation. Despite advances in behavioral economics, there is no consensus on which preferences are more common than others. This project produces novel insights about the factors that shape human motivation in the first place, by studying their evolutionary foundations. The project studies interactions between non-related humans in small groups, and family-related interactions; it uses theoretical models and experimental/empirical analyses.
While economics is the core discipline of the project, it is interdisciplinary. Insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology are combined with economics to produce insights that cannot be obtained within any single discipline. The project benefits from the interdisciplinary research ecosystem in Toulouse, in particular the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse.
Strategic interactions:
In Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith claimed that we may trade with others without much regard for their inclinations towards us—"It is not from the benevolence of the Butcher (...) that we expect our dinner". However, research in the 1970s and -80s led to a dramatic reassessment of narrow self-interest, which was shown to lead to inefficient provision of public goods, inefficient use of private information in markets, and corruption. The project will enrich economics by examining the evolutionary foundations of human motivation in strategic interactions.
The human family:
Gary Becker extended economics to include the study of intra-family interactions, such as male-female division of labor and the workings of marriage markets. As is common in economics, preferences are taken as given, and so are marital norms. The project will study the evolutionary foundations of preferences that govern family-related behaviors, such as paternal care, mating practices, and sharing practices.
While economics is the core discipline of the project, it is interdisciplinary. Insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology are combined with economics to produce insights that cannot be obtained within any single discipline. The project benefits from the interdisciplinary research ecosystem in Toulouse, in particular the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse.
Strategic interactions:
In Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith claimed that we may trade with others without much regard for their inclinations towards us—"It is not from the benevolence of the Butcher (...) that we expect our dinner". However, research in the 1970s and -80s led to a dramatic reassessment of narrow self-interest, which was shown to lead to inefficient provision of public goods, inefficient use of private information in markets, and corruption. The project will enrich economics by examining the evolutionary foundations of human motivation in strategic interactions.
The human family:
Gary Becker extended economics to include the study of intra-family interactions, such as male-female division of labor and the workings of marriage markets. As is common in economics, preferences are taken as given, and so are marital norms. The project will study the evolutionary foundations of preferences that govern family-related behaviors, such as paternal care, mating practices, and sharing practices.
• Conference on Cultural Evolution (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/teb2019.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Fertility: Causes and Consequences (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/biology_version_finale.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Production and Sharing (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/teb2022.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Inertia (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/teb2023.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Publications:
o "Evolution of semi-Kantian preferences in two-player assortative interactions with complete and incomplete information and plasticity". With Laurent Lehmann. (https://www.iast.fr/publications/evolution-semi-kantian-preferences-two-player-assortative-interactions-complete-and-incomplete(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "The evolution of early hominin food production and sharing". With Slimane Dridi, Jonathan Stieglitz, and Michael Wilson. Published in PNAS. (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2218096120(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolution and Kantian morality: a correction and addendum." With Jörgen W. Weibull. Published in Games and Economic Behavior. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825623000532?via%3Dihub(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolutionarily stable preferences". Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rstb.2021.0505(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolution of preferences in group-structured populations: genes, guns, and culture". With J.W. Weibull and L. Lehmann. Published in Journal of Economic Theory. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053118305337)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Estimating social preferences and Kantian morality in strategic interactions". With B. van Leeuwen (https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2019/wp_tse_1056.pdf)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Evolution of the Family: Theory and Implications for Economics". With D. Cox. Published in Oxford Research Encyclopedia. (https://oxfordre.com/economics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190625979.001.0001/acrefore-9780190625979-e-439)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Paternal provisioning results from ecological change". With D. Cox, P. Hooper, H. Kaplan, and J. Stieglitz Published in PNAS. (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917166117)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Monogamy: Exception or rule?" (https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2020/wp_tse_1093_july.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Homo moralis goes to the voting booth: a new theory of voter participation" With Jean-François Laslier. (https://www.tse-fr.eu/publications/homo-moralis-goes-voting-booth-new-theory-voter-turnout-0(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Homo moralis goes to the voting booth: coordination and information aggregation." With Jean-François Laslier. Published in Journal of Theoretical Politics. (https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/2EMSGIIWTDM9QF5YIX7A/full(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "On the evolution of male competitiveness." Published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.07.027(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Fertility: Causes and Consequences (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/biology_version_finale.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Production and Sharing (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/teb2022.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Conference on Inertia (https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/9/8/9898358/teb2023.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
• Publications:
o "Evolution of semi-Kantian preferences in two-player assortative interactions with complete and incomplete information and plasticity". With Laurent Lehmann. (https://www.iast.fr/publications/evolution-semi-kantian-preferences-two-player-assortative-interactions-complete-and-incomplete(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "The evolution of early hominin food production and sharing". With Slimane Dridi, Jonathan Stieglitz, and Michael Wilson. Published in PNAS. (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2218096120(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolution and Kantian morality: a correction and addendum." With Jörgen W. Weibull. Published in Games and Economic Behavior. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825623000532?via%3Dihub(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolutionarily stable preferences". Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rstb.2021.0505(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Evolution of preferences in group-structured populations: genes, guns, and culture". With J.W. Weibull and L. Lehmann. Published in Journal of Economic Theory. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053118305337)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Estimating social preferences and Kantian morality in strategic interactions". With B. van Leeuwen (https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2019/wp_tse_1056.pdf)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Evolution of the Family: Theory and Implications for Economics". With D. Cox. Published in Oxford Research Encyclopedia. (https://oxfordre.com/economics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190625979.001.0001/acrefore-9780190625979-e-439)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Paternal provisioning results from ecological change". With D. Cox, P. Hooper, H. Kaplan, and J. Stieglitz Published in PNAS. (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917166117)(se abrirá en una nueva ventana):
o "Monogamy: Exception or rule?" (https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2020/wp_tse_1093_july.pdf(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Homo moralis goes to the voting booth: a new theory of voter participation" With Jean-François Laslier. (https://www.tse-fr.eu/publications/homo-moralis-goes-voting-booth-new-theory-voter-turnout-0(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "Homo moralis goes to the voting booth: coordination and information aggregation." With Jean-François Laslier. Published in Journal of Theoretical Politics. (https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/2EMSGIIWTDM9QF5YIX7A/full(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
o "On the evolution of male competitiveness." Published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.07.027(se abrirá en una nueva ventana))
Economics models need to accurately predict behaviors. This project makes theoretical predictions for human motivation, based on evolutionary logic, which says that those alive today had ancestors who were successful at surviving and reproducing. If preferences are transmitted across generations, we have inherited the preferences of those who were winners in the evolutionary race. Evolutionary theory thus holds the promise of helping economists understand why human preferences are the way they are today, and how they may evolve in the future.