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Son to Father Reciprocity and Encephalization in Early Humans

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  • Hartwick, John M.

Abstract

Humans exhibit much more sharing of food harvested by prime- age hunter-gatherers with dependents relative to such sharing by lower-order primates. We investigate this behavior in a model in which a father provides generously to his dependent child-son in period t in the hope that this gesture will inspire his son to recip- rocate in the next period when the father is in "retirement". In our formulation fathers provide better when (a) they are smarter hunters (b) they have a higher probability of living to experience a "retirement" and (c) when they are more con dent that their child-sons will indeed provide generously for them in their "retire- ment". Better food provision by prime-age fathers is associated with brain-size expansion in our model.

Suggested Citation

  • Hartwick, John M., 2009. "Son to Father Reciprocity and Encephalization in Early Humans," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 273719, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:quedwp:273719
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.273719
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
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