IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/resene/v33y2011i2p426-439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Joint determination of biological encephalization, economic specialization

Author

Listed:
  • Horan, Richard D.
  • Shogren, Jason F.
  • Bulte, Erwin H.

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a paleoeconomic model of the co-evolution of economic specialization and encephalization--the common physiological measure of intelligence as reflected by brain mass relative to total body mass. Our economic analysis links ecological and social intelligence theories of increased encephalization in early hominins through a model in which both economic and ecological feedbacks jointly determined the evolutionary incentives. We focus on degrees of specialization affected by coordination costs with and without market exchange. Our results suggest encephalization would be a process characterized by diminishing returns to behavioral advances. In terms of the long-running debate in economics over whether specialization increases or decreases intelligence, our results suggest from an evolutionary perspective the answer depends on economic/social institutions and how these influence ecological interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Horan, Richard D. & Shogren, Jason F. & Bulte, Erwin H., 2011. "Joint determination of biological encephalization, economic specialization," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 426-439, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:33:y:2011:i:2:p:426-439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928-7655(10)00047-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2002. "Natural Selection and the Origin of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1133-1191.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1994. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 299-322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Shogren, Jason F. & Crocker, Thomas D. & Forster, Bruce A., 1991. "Valuing Potential Groundwater Protection Benefits," Staff General Research Papers Archive 335, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Christopher B. Ruff & Erik Trinkaus & Trenton W. Holliday, 1997. "Body mass and encephalization in Pleistocene Homo," Nature, Nature, vol. 387(6629), pages 173-176, May.
    5. Arthur J. Robson, 2005. "Complex Evolutionary Systems and the Red Queen," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 211-224, June.
    6. Shogren, Jason F. & Crocker, Thomas D., 1999. "Risk and Its Consequences," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 44-51, January.
    7. repec:tiu:tiutis:fe79a9d2-e9e3-4dbc-9539-cdece886993d is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Shih-Neng Chen & Jason F. Shogren & Peter F. Orazem & Thomas D. Crocker, 2002. "Prices and Health: Identifying the Effects of Nutrition, Exercise, and Medication Choices on Blood Pressure," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 990-1002.
    9. Marc Nerlove, 1991. "Population and the Environment: A Parable of Firewood and Other Tales," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1334-1347.
    10. Nicolas Marceau & Gordon Myers, 2006. "On the Early Holocene: Foraging to Early Agriculture," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(513), pages 751-772, July.
    11. Settle, Chad & Crocker, Thomas D. & Shogren, Jason F., 2002. "On the joint determination of biological and economic systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 301-311, August.
    12. Arthur J. Robson & Hillard S. Kaplan, 2003. "The Evolution of Human Life Expectancy and Intelligence in Hunter-Gatherer Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 150-169, March.
    13. Hansson, Ingemar & Stuart, Charles, 1990. "Malthusian Selection of Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 529-544, June.
    14. U. Dieckmann & R. Law, 1996. "The Dynamical Theory of Coevolution: A Derivation from Stochastic Ecological Processes," Working Papers wp96001, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
    15. Marc Nerlove, 1993. "Procreation, Fishing, and Hunting: Renewable Resources and Dynamic Planar Systems," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(1), pages 59-71.
    16. Thomas Crocker & John Tschirhart, 1992. "Ecosystems, externalities, and economies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(6), pages 551-567, November.
    17. Richard Horan & Erwin Bulte & Jason Shogren, 2008. "Coevolution of human speech and trade," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 293-313, December.
    18. Partha Dasgupta, 1995. "The Population Problem: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1879-1902, December.
    19. Mark Agee & Thomas Crocker*, 1998. "Economies, Human Capital, and Natural Assets," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(3), pages 261-271, April.
    20. Horan, Richard D. & Bulte, Erwin & Shogren, Jason F., 2005. "How trade saved humanity from biological exclusion: an economic theory of Neanderthal extinction," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-29, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Horan, Richard D. & Shogren, Jason F. & Bulte, Erwin H., 2008. "Competitive Exclusion, Diversification, and the Origins of Agriculture," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6410, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Richard Horan & Erwin Bulte & Jason Shogren, 2008. "Coevolution of human speech and trade," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 293-313, December.
    3. Richard D. Horan & Jason F. Shogren & Erwin Bulte, 2003. "A Paleoeconomic Theory of Co‐Evolution and Extinction of Domesticable Animals," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(2), pages 131-148, May.
    4. Horan, Richard D. & Bulte, Erwin & Shogren, Jason F., 2005. "How trade saved humanity from biological exclusion: an economic theory of Neanderthal extinction," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-29, September.
    5. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter, 2007. "Long-Run Trends In Human Body Mass," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 367-387, June.
    6. Bulte, Erwin H. & Horan, Richard D. & Shogren, Jason F., 2006. "Coevolutionary Investments in Human Speech and Trade," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21318, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Mark D. Agee & Thomas D. Crocker, 2002. "On Techniques to Value the Impact of Environmental Hazards on Children's Health," NCEE Working Paper Series 200208, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Sep 2002.
    8. Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2007. "Made for Toil: Natural selection at the dawn of agriculture," PSE Working Papers halshs-00587788, HAL.
    9. De Fraja, Gianni, 2009. "The origin of utility: Sexual selection and conspicuous consumption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 51-69, October.
    10. Bulte, Erwin & Horan, Richard D. & Shogren, Jason F., 2006. "Megafauna extinction: A paleoeconomic theory of human overkill in the pleistocene," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 297-323, March.
    11. repec:tiu:tiutis:fe79a9d2-e9e3-4dbc-9539-cdece886993d is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Cyrus Chu, C.Y. & Chien, Hung-Ken & Lee, Ronald D., 2010. "The evolutionary theory of time preferences and intergenerational transfers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 451-464, December.
    13. Galor, Oded & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2006. "The Evolution of Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Process of Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 6022, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2004. "Natural Selection and the Evolution of Life Expectancy," GE, Growth, Math methods 0409004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Fabio Mariani & Marion Mercier & Luca Pensieroso, 2023. "Left-handedness and economic development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 79-123, March.
    16. De Fraja, Gianni, 2006. "The Origin of Utility," CEPR Discussion Papers 5859, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Oded Galor & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2006. "Darwinian Evolution of Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Process of Development," Working Papers 2006-12, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    18. Chu, Angus C., 2023. "Human Brain Evolution in a Malthusian Economy," MPRA Paper 117130, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Angus C. Chu, 2023. "Natural selection and Neanderthal extinction in a Malthusian economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1641-1656, July.
    20. Jason Collins & Boris Baer & Ernst Juerg Weber, 2013. "Population, Technological Progress and the Evolution of Innovative Potential," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 13-21, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    21. Arthur J. Robson, 2010. "A bioeconomic view of the Neolithic transition to agriculture," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 280-300, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:33:y:2011:i:2:p:426-439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505569 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.