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On Market Forces and Human Evolution

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Author Info

  • Saint-Paul, Gilles

    () (University of Toulouse I)

Abstract

This paper studies how an institution such as markets affects the evolution of mankind. My key point is that the forces of natural selection are made weaker because trade allows people to specialize in those activities where they are strong, and to offset their weaknesses by purchasing adequate goods on the market. Absent trade, people must allocate their time among all the activities necessary for their fitness. A fitness advantage in any given dimension will increase survival probability, so that in the long run natural selection makes sure that population is entirely made of individuals with the best alleles at all locations. Under trade, there exist long-run equilibria where less fit individuals are able to achieve the same survival potential as the fittest, by specializing in activities where they are not at a disadvantage, and purchasing goods that are substitute for activities for which they are 'weak'.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 621.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2002
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2007, 247, 397- 412,
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp621

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Related research

Keywords: exchange; trade; natural selection; gene-culture coevolution; specialization; division of labor; genotype; evolution; markets; time allocation;

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Cited by:
  1. Oded Galor & Stelios Michalopoulos, 2011. "Evolution and the Growth Process: Natural Selection of Entrepreneurial Traits," NBER Working Papers 17075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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