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Economic Growth And Evolution: Parental Preference For Quality And Quantity Of Offspring

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  • Collins, Jason
  • Baer, Boris
  • Weber, Ernst Juerg

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the model developed by Galor and Moav [Galor, Oded and Omer Moav (2002) Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(4), 1133–1191] in which agents vary genetically in their preference for quality and quantity of children. The simulation produces a pattern of income and population growth that resembles the period of Malthusian stagnation before the Industrial Revolution and the take-off into a modern growth era. We also investigate the stability of the modern growth era as an absorbing state of the model under the introduction of a strongly quantity-preferring genotype. We show that, given the absence of a scale effect of population in the model, the economy can regress to a Malthusian state under this change in the initial distribution of genotypes.

Suggested Citation

  • Collins, Jason & Baer, Boris & Weber, Ernst Juerg, 2014. "Economic Growth And Evolution: Parental Preference For Quality And Quantity Of Offspring," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(8), pages 1773-1796, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:18:y:2014:i:08:p:1773-1796_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Chu, Angus C., 2025. "Prehistoric shuttle dispersals in a Malthusian economy," MPRA Paper 126606, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Galor, Oded & Klemp, Marc, 2014. "The Biocultural Origins of Human Capital Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 8433, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2018. "The Macrogenoeconomics of Comparative Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1119-1155, September.
    4. Jason Collins & Boris Baer & Ernst Juerg Weber, 2016. "Evolutionary Biology in Economics: A Review," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(297), pages 291-312, June.
    5. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor & Marc P. B. Klemp, 2020. "The Ancient Origins of the Wealth of Nations," CESifo Working Paper Series 8624, CESifo.
    6. Galor, Oded, 2024. "Unified Growth Theory: Engines of Growth and Inequality in the Wealth of Nations," IZA Discussion Papers 17491, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Galor, Oded & Klemp, Marc, 2013. "Be Fruitful and Multiply? Moderate Fecundity and Long-Run Reproductive Success," MPRA Paper 52049, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Boris Gershman, 2016. "Long-Run Development and the New Cultural Economics," Working Papers 2016-06, American University, Department of Economics.
    9. 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.
    10. Chu, Angus C., 2024. "A Malthusian model of hybridization in human evolution," MPRA Paper 121218, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Chu, Angus C. & Wang, Xilin, 2025. "Early state formation in a Malthusian economy," MPRA Paper 126926, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Oded Galor, 2024. "Unified Growth Theory: Roots of Growth and Inequality in the Wealth of Nations," NBER Working Papers 33288, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Marc Klemp & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Fecundity, Fertility and The Formation of Human Capital," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(618), pages 925-960.

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