IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/ecobur/v7y2021i3p16-34n6.html

A synthesis of evolutionary and behavioural economics

Author

Listed:
  • Polowczyk Jan

    (Poznań University of Economics and Business, Institute of International Business and Economics, Department of International Competitiveness, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland)

Abstract

The article presents the current state of evolutionary economics against the backdrop of changes related to the potential use of the achievements of other social sciences, in particular psychology, as well as dynamically developing neuroscience. The article suggests a synthesis of evolutionary and behavioural economics concepts as a logical consequence of evolutionary cooperation processes in social sciences. Interdisciplinary initiatives create new perspectives on generation synergy effects for all participants. Contemporary evolutionary economists present the nature of ongoing innovation-driven economic change as a long evolutionary process. The main creator of the econosphere as a global system is a man–entrepreneur who is also the result of evolutionary processes. For this reason evolutionary economics should take into account the results of behavioural economics’ research based on modern psychology and neuro-science. The cornerstone of evolutionary and behavioural economics synthesis are the theories of Adam Smith which should be regarded as his holistic intellectual heritage.

Suggested Citation

  • Polowczyk Jan, 2021. "A synthesis of evolutionary and behavioural economics," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 7(3), pages 16-34, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ecobur:v:7:y:2021:i:3:p:16-34:n:6
    DOI: 10.18559/ebr.2021.3.3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2021.3.3
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18559/ebr.2021.3.3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger E. Backhouse & Steven G. Medema, 2009. "Retrospectives: On the Definition of Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 221-233, Winter.
    2. George A. Akerlof, 2009. "How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1175-1175.
    3. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "A Psychological Perspective on Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 162-168, May.
    4. Jan Schnellenbach & Christian Schubert, 2019. "A note on the behavioral political economy of innovation policy," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(5), pages 1399-1414, November.
    5. Tomer, John F., 2007. "What is behavioral economics?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 463-479, June.
    6. Brendan Markey-Towler, 2018. "A formal psychological theory for evolutionary economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 691-725, September.
    7. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Christian Schubert, 2014. "“Generalized Darwinism” and the quest for an evolutionary theory of policy-making," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 479-513, July.
    9. Colin Camerer, 1985. "Redirecting research in business policy and strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Fehr, Ernst & Fischbacher, Urs & Kosfeld, Michael, 2005. "Neuroeconomic Foundations of Trust and Social Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 1641, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Richard R. Nelson, 2016. "Behavior and cognition of economic actors in evolutionary economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 737-751, October.
    12. Alger, Ingela & Lehmann, Laurent & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2015. "Does evolution lead to maximizing behavior?," TSE Working Papers 15-561, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    13. Nash, John, 1950. "The Bargaining Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 18(2), pages 155-162, April.
    14. Robert J. Aumann, 2019. "Publisher Correction: A synthesis of behavioural and mainstream economics," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 761-761, July.
    15. Camelia Kuhnen & Brian Knutson, 2005. "The Neural Basis of Financial Risk Taking," Experimental 0509001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Jerry Evensky, 2005. "Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments: On Morals and Why They Matter to a Liberal Society of Free People and Free Markets," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 109-130, Summer.
    17. Kowalski, Tadeusz, 2002. "The Simonian bounded rationality hypothesis and the expectation formation mechanism," MPRA Paper 33981, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Dopfer,Kurt (ed.), 2005. "The Evolutionary Foundations of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621991, Enero-Abr.
    19. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher & Michael Kosfeld, 2005. "Neuroeconomic Foundations of Trust and Social Preferences: Initial Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 346-351, May.
    20. Boulding, K E, 1991. "What Is Evolutionary Economics?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 9-17, January.
    21. Nava Ashraf & Colin F. Camerer & George Loewenstein, 2005. "Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 131-145, Summer.
    22. Simon Gachter & Ernst Fehr, 2000. "Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 980-994, September.
    23. Daniel Kahneman, 2002. "Maps of Bounded Rationality," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2002-4, Nobel Prize Committee.
    24. Vernon L. Smith, 1998. "The Two Faces of Adam Smith," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 65(1), pages 2-19, July.
    25. Almudi,Isabel & Fatas-Villafranca,Francisco, 2021. "Coevolution in Economic Systems," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108737999, Enero-Abr.
    26. Ugo Pagano, 2020. "Why only humans and social insects have a division of labour," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Biel, Anders & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Nilsson, Andreas, 2011. "The willingness to pay–willingness to accept gap revisited: The role of emotions and moral satisfaction," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 908-917.
    2. Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano, 2021. "Microfoundations, behaviour, and evolution: Evidence from experiments," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 372-385.
    3. Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), 2025. "Study on behavioural economics for efficient regulation and supervision," Colección Estudios de Mercado E/CNMC/002/23_ENG, Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC).
    4. Steven Beckman & Lanxin Chen & Greg DeAngelo & W. James Smith & Xieting Zhang, 2011. "Microeconomics and Psychology," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 255-269, July.
    5. George I. Christopoulos & Xiao-Xiao Liu & Ying-yi Hong, 2017. "Toward an Understanding of Dynamic Moral Decision Making: Model-Free and Model-Based Learning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(4), pages 699-715, September.
    6. Ardalan, Kavous, 2018. "Neurofinance versus the efficient markets hypothesis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 170-176.
    7. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.
    8. Theresa Michl & Stefan Taing, 2010. "An Economic and Neuroscientific Comparison of Strategic Decision-making," Chapters, in: Angela A. Stanton & Mellani Day & Isabell M. Welpe (ed.), Neuroeconomics and the Firm, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Aneta Kargol-Wasiluk & Anna Wildowicz-Giegiel & Marian Zalesko, 2018. "The Evolution of the Economic Man. From Homo Oeconomicus to Homo Moralis," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 33-57.
    10. Biel, Anders & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Nilsson, Andreas, 2006. "Emotions, Morality and Public Goods: The WTA-WTP Disparity Revisited," Working Papers in Economics 193, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    11. Uwe Jirjahn & Vanessa Lange, 2015. "Reciprocity and Workers’ Tastes for Representation," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 188-209, June.
    12. Ashok Chakravarti, 2012. "Institutions, Economic Performance and the Visible Hand," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14751.
    13. Fudenberg, Drew & Pathak, Parag A., 2010. "Unobserved punishment supports cooperation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 78-86, February.
    14. Blume, Lorenz & Sack, Detlef, 2006. "Regional preferences for hierarchies, markets, and networks: Exploring social capital data for Germany," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 85, University of Kassel, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    15. Volker Lingnau & Florian Fuchs & Florian Beham, 2022. "The link between corporate sustainability and willingness to invest: new evidence from the field of ethical investments," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 335-369, September.
    16. Daniele SCHILIRÒ, 2013. "Bounded Rationality: Psychology, Economics And The Financial Crises," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 97-108.
    17. Stavros A. Drakopoulos, 2025. "The Conceptual Resilience of the Atomistic Individual in Mainstream Economic Rationality," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 1-20, January.
    18. 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.
    19. Ronald Schettkat, 2022. "The Behavioral Economics of John Maynard Keynes," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 21192, June.
    20. Kargol-Wasiluk, Aneta & Wildowicz-Giegiel, Anna & Zalesko, Marian, . "Ewolucja człowieka gospodarującego. Od homo oeconomicus do homo moralis," Gospodarka Narodowa-The Polish Journal of Economics, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie / SGH Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2018(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E71 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on the Macro Economy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:ecobur:v:7:y:2021:i:3:p:16-34:n:6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.