IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/canjec/v39y2006i2p375-398.html

Viewpoint: The economics of hunter‐gatherer societies and the evolution of human characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur J. Robson
  • Hillard S. Kaplan

Abstract

. We argue for attention to the evolutionary origins of economic behaviour. Going beyond this, we argue that the economy of hunting and gathering was the context in which evolution shaped human characteristics that underlie modern economic behaviour. We first reconsider the basic biological question of why aging occurs at all. We then illustrate the usefulness of considering foraging economics by asking why it is biologically advantageous for humans to live long after their reproductive career is over. Further, we argue that foraging economics would have led to the simultaneous exaggeration of intelligence and of longevity that is characteristic of humans. JEL classification: A12, J10 L’économie des sociétés de chasseurs‐cueilleurs et l’évolution des traits humains. Les auteurs suggèrent qu’on doit porter plus d’attention aux origines évolutionnaires du comportement économique. Poussant un pas plus loin, ils suggèrent que l’économie des chasseurs‐cueilleurs a été le contexte où l’évolution a conformé les traits humains qui sous‐tendent le comportement économique moderne. D’abord, ils réexaminent la question biologique de base à savoir pourquoi il y a vieillissement. Ensuite, ils illustrent l’utilité d’une économie des activités de cueillette, chasse et engrangement en posant la question à savoir pourquoi il est biologiquement avantageux pour les humains de bien vivre après que leur période de reproduction active est terminée. Finalement, ils suggèrent que ce type d’économie aurait entraîné simultanément une surestimation de l’intelligence et de la longévité– deux traits des humains.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur J. Robson & Hillard S. Kaplan, 2006. "Viewpoint: The economics of hunter‐gatherer societies and the evolution of human characteristics," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(2), pages 375-398, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:39:y:2006:i:2:p:375-398
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0008-4085.2006.00351.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0008-4085.2006.00351.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0008-4085.2006.00351.x?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robson, Arthur J., 1996. "The Evolution of Attitudes to Risk: Lottery Tickets and Relative Wealth," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 190-207, June.
    2. Ehrlich, Isaac & Chuma, Hiroyuki, 1990. "A Model of the Demand for Longevity and the Value of Life Extension," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 761-782, August.
    3. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    4. Arthur J. Robson & Hillard S. Kaplan, 2003. "The Evolution of Human Life Expectancy and Intelligence in Hunter-Gatherer Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 150-169, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2007. "Made for Toil: Natural selection at the dawn of agriculture," PSE Working Papers halshs-00587788, HAL.
    2. Francesconi, Marco & Ghiglino, Christian & Perry, Motty, 2016. "An evolutionary theory of monogamy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 605-628.
    3. Francesconi, Marco & Ghiglino, Christian & Perry, Motty, 2009. "On the Origin of the Family," IZA Discussion Papers 4637, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Dow, Gregory K. & Reed, Clyde G., 2011. "Stagnation and innovation before agriculture," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 339-350, March.
    5. James A. Brander, 2007. "Viewpoint: Sustainability: Malthus revisited?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(1), pages 1-38, February.
    6. Bruce C Petersen, 2023. "An economic model and evidence of the evolution of human intelligence in the Middle Pleistocene: Climate change and assortative mating," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(8), pages 1-23, August.

    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. Lurås, Hilde, 2009. "A healthy lifestyle: The product of opportunities and preferences," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2001:11, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    2. D. Dragone & H. Strulik, 2017. "Human Health and Aging over an Infinite Time Horizon," Working Papers wp1104, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    3. Stelter, Robert, 2014. "Over-aging: Are present human populations too old?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 137, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    4. Strulik, Holger, 2018. "The return to education in terms of wealth and health," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Liljas, Bengt, 2000. "Insurance and imperfect financial markets in Grossman's demand for health model -- a reply to Tabata and Ohkusa," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 821-827, September.
    6. Jaison Chireshe & Matthew K. Ocran, 2020. "Health care expenditure and health outcomes in sub‐Saharan African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 349-361, September.
    7. Kuhn, Michael & Wrzaczek, Stefan & Prskawetz, Alexia & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2011. "Externalities in a life cycle model with endogenous survival," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4-5), pages 627-641.
    8. He, Qichun, 2018. "Inflation and health in a Schumpeterian growth model: Theory and evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 159-168.
    9. St-Amour, Pascal, 2024. "Valuing life over the life cycle," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    10. Bolin, Kristian & Caputo, Michael R., 2020. "Consumption and investment demand when health evolves stochastically," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    11. Sanso, Marcos & Aisa, Rosa M., 2006. "Endogenous longevity, biological deterioration and economic growth," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 555-578, May.
    12. Hans van Kippersluis & Titus J. Galama, 2013. "Why the Rich drink more but smoke less: The Impact of Wealth on Health Behaviors," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-035/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    13. Harris, Matthew & Kohn, Jennifer, 2015. "Reference dependent utility from health and the demand for medical care," MPRA Paper 61926, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Tamara Fioroni, 2010. "Optimal savings and health spending over the life cycle," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(4), pages 355-365, August.
    15. Galama, T. & Hullegie, P. & Meijer, E. & Outcault, S., 2012. "Empirical evidence for decreasing returns to scale in a health capital model," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 12/05, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Bolin, Kristian & Caputo, Michael R., 2018. "Optimal Investment in Health when Lifetime is Stochastic, or, Rational Agents do not Often Follow Health Agency Recommendations," Working Papers in Economics 734, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    17. Michael Grossman, 2022. "The demand for health turns 50: Reflections," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1807-1822, September.
    18. Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2018. "Hyperbolic discounting can be good for your health," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 44-57.
    19. van Kippersluis, Hans & Galama, Titus J., 2014. "Wealth and health behavior: Testing the concept of a health cost," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 197-220.
    20. David E Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2020. "The contribution of female health to economic development [The costs of missing the Millennium Development Goal on gender equity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1650-1677.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

    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:wly:canjec:v:39:y:2006:i:2:p:375-398. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5982 .

    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.