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The Origin of Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas J. Brennan

    (School of Law, Northwestern University, 375 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611–3069, USA)

  • Andrew W. Lo

    (MIT Sloan School of Management, 100 Main Street, E62–618, Cambridge, MA 02142–1347, USA;
    AlphaSimplex Group, LLC, USA)

Abstract

We propose a single evolutionary explanation for the origin of several behaviors that have been observed in organisms ranging from ants to human subjects, including risk-sensitive foraging, risk aversion, loss aversion, probability matching, randomization, and diversification. Given an initial population of individuals, each assigned a purely arbitrary behavior with respect to a binary choice problem, and assuming that offspring behave identically to their parents, only those behaviors linked to reproductive success will survive, and less reproductively successful behaviors will disappear at exponential rates. When the uncertainty in reproductive success is systematic, natural selection yields behaviors that may be individually sub-optimal but are optimal from the population perspective; when reproductive uncertainty is idiosyncratic, the individual and population perspectives coincide. This framework generates a surprisingly rich set of behaviors, and the simplicity and generality of our model suggest that these derived behaviors are primitive and nearly universal within and across species.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas J. Brennan & Andrew W. Lo, 2011. "The Origin of Behavior," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(01), pages 55-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:qjfxxx:v:01:y:2011:i:01:n:s201013921100002x
    DOI: 10.1142/S201013921100002X
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bomin Jiang & Daniel Rigobon & Roberto Rigobon, 2022. "From Just-in-Time, to Just-in-Case, to Just-in-Worst-Case: Simple Models of a Global Supply Chain under Uncertain Aggregate Shocks," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(1), pages 141-184, March.
    2. Erol Akçay & David Hirshleifer, 2021. "Social finance as cultural evolution, transmission bias, and market dynamics," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(26), pages 2015568118-, June.
    3. Yu, Shi & Wang, Haoran & Dong, Chaosheng, 2023. "Learning risk preferences from investment portfolios using inverse optimization," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Nicos Nicolaou & Scott Shane, 2019. "Common genetic effects on risk-taking preferences and choices," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 261-279, December.
    5. Cronqvist, Henrik & Siegel, Stephan, 2014. "The genetics of investment biases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 215-234.
    6. Thomas J Brennan & Andrew W Lo, 2012. "An Evolutionary Model of Bounded Rationality and Intelligence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(11), pages 1-8, November.
    7. Shi Yu & Haoran Wang & Chaosheng Dong, 2020. "Learning Risk Preferences from Investment Portfolios Using Inverse Optimization," Papers 2010.01687, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    8. Avineri, Erel, 2012. "On the use and potential of behavioural economics from the perspective of transport and climate change," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 512-521.
    9. Levy, Moshe, 2015. "An evolutionary explanation for risk aversion," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 51-61.
    10. Moshe Levy, 2022. "An evolutionary explanation of the Allais paradox," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1545-1574, November.
    11. Songjia Fan & Yi Tao & Cong Li, 2022. "Evolutionary rationality of risk preference," Papers 2206.09813, arXiv.org.
    12. Radu T. Pruna & Maria Polukarov & Nicholas R. Jennings, 2020. "Loss aversion in an agent-based asset pricing model," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 275-290, February.
    13. Michael Seiler & Eric Walden, 2015. "A Neurological Explanation of Strategic Mortgage Default," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 215-230, August.
    14. Hirshleifer, David & Lo, Andrew W. & Zhang, Ruixun, 2023. "Social contagion and the survival of diverse investment styles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    15. Andrew W. Lo & H. Allen Orr & Ruixun Zhang, 2018. "The growth of relative wealth and the Kelly criterion," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 49-67, April.
    16. H. Allen Orr, 2018. "Evolution, finance, and the population genetics of relative wealth," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 29-48, April.
    17. Burnham, Terence C., 2013. "Toward a neo-Darwinian synthesis of neoclassical and behavioral economics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(S), pages 113-127.
    18. Mellissa Marcus & Terence C. Burnham & David W. Stephens & Aimee S. Dunlap, 2018. "Experimental evolution of color preference for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 125-140, April.
    19. Cronqvist, Henrik & Siegel, Stephan & Yu, Frank, 2015. "Value versus growth investing: Why do different investors have different styles?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 333-349.
    20. Chatterjee, Kiron & Sherwin, Henrietta & Jain, Juliet, 2013. "Triggers for changes in cycling: the role of life events and modifications to the external environment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 183-193.
    21. Geoffrey M. Ngene & Catherine Anitha Manohar & Ivan F. Julio, 2020. "Overreaction in the REITs Market: New Evidence from Quantile Autoregression Approach," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-28, November.
    22. Teresa Garcia & Daniel Borrego, 2017. "Markowitz Efficient Frontier And Capital Market Line – Evidence From The Portuguese Stock Market," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 22(1), pages 3-23.

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