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The Role of Biology and Culture in Veblenian Consumption Dynamics

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C. Cordes ()

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Abstract

This paper incorporates aspects of humans’ evolved cognition into a formal model of cultural evolution and scrutinizes their interactions with population-level processes. It is shown how the biased transmission of different kinds of behavior via cultural learning processes influences agents’ consumption behavior. Thereby, the model’s learning dynamics are capable of generating typical Veblenian consumption dynamics. Based on these insights, the paper then scrutinizes on the role of humans’ biological heritage and Darwinian concepts in the development of economic theories in general. Moreover, the relation of the ontological basis of biological and cultural evolution is addressed.

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Paper provided by Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group in its series Papers on Econonmics and Evolution with number 2007-13.

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Date of creation: Nov 2007
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Handle: RePEc:esi:evopap:2007-13

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Keywords: Conspicuous consumption Economic theory development Evolutionary economics Darwinism Cultural evolution Length 31 pages

Find related papers by JEL classification:
A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Institutional; Evolutionary
C60 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - General
D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory

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