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Evolution and the Growth Process: Natural Selection of Entrepreneurial Traits

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Abstract

This research suggests that the evolution of entrepreneurial spirit played a signi?cant role in the process of economic development and the dynamics of inequality within and across societies. The study argues that entrepreneurial spirit evolved non-monotonically in the course of human history. In early stages of development, risk-tolerant, growth promoting traits generated an evolutionary advantage and their increased representation accelerated the pace of technological progress and the process of economic development. In mature stages of development, however, risk-averse traits gained an evolutionary advantage, di- minishing the growth potential of advanced economies and contributing to convergence in economic growth across countries.

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Paper provided by Brown University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 2011-9.

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Date of creation: 2011
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Handle: RePEc:bro:econwp:2011-9

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Postal: Department of Economics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912

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Keywords: Risk Aversion; Growth; Technological Progress; Evolution; Natural Selection;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Natural selection and economic growth
    by Jason in Evolving Economics on 2011-06-02 19:02:10
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
Cited by:
  1. Quamrul Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2011. "Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations," Department of Economics Working Papers 2011-17, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  2. Jason Collins & Boris Baer & Ernst Juerg Weber, 2011. "Economic Growth And Evolution: Parental Preference For Quality And Quantity Of Offspring," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 11-05, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
  3. Stelios Michalopoulos, 2011. "The Origins of Technolinguistic Diversity," Economics Working Papers 0095, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science.
  4. Dietrich Vollrath, 2011. "The agricultural basis of comparative development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 343-370, December.

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