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Evolution leads to Kantian morality

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  • Alger, Ingela
  • Weibull, Jörgen W.

Abstract

We provide a generalized definition of evolutionary stability of heritable types in arbitrarily large symmetric interactions under random matching that may be assortative. We establish stability results when these types are strategies in games, and when they are preferences or moral values in games under incomplete information. We show that a class of moral preferences, with degree of morality equal to the index of assortativity are evolutionarily stable. In particular, selfishness is evolutionarily unstable when there is positive assortativity in the matching process. We establish that evolutionarily stable strategies are the same as those played in equilibrium by rational but partly morally motivated individuals, individuals with evolutionarily stable preferences. We provide simple and operational criteria for evolutionary stability and apply these to canonical examples.
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Suggested Citation

  • Alger, Ingela & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2014. "Evolution leads to Kantian morality," IAST Working Papers 14-10, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), revised Jun 2015.
  • Handle: RePEc:tse:iastwp:28298
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bergstrom, Theodore C, 1995. "On the Evolution of Altruistic Ethical Rules for Siblings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 58-81, March.
    2. Ingela Alger, 2010. "Public Goods Games, Altruism, and Evolution," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 12(4), pages 789-813, August.
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    8. Tore Ellingsen, 1997. "The Evolution of Bargaining Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 581-602.
    9. Ingela Alger & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2010. "Kinship, Incentives, and Evolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1725-1758, September.
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    14. Possajennikov, Alex, 2000. "On the evolutionary stability of altruistic and spiteful preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 125-129, May.
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    16. Ockenfels, Peter, 1993. "Cooperation in prisoners' dilemma : An evolutionary approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 567-579, November.
    17. Ingela Alger, 2010. "Corrigendum: Public Goods Games, Altruism, and Evolution," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 12(6), pages 1135-1135, December.
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    19. Frank, Robert H, 1987. "If Homo Economicus Could Choose His Own Utility Function, Would He Want One with a Conscience?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 593-604, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relationships and nature of contracts in the distribution structure for responsible trade," Working papers of CATT hal-02937865, HAL.
    2. Alexandros Rigos & Heinrich H. Nax, 2015. "Assortativity evolving from social dilemmas," Discussion Papers in Economics 15/19, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    3. Florence TOUYA, 2019. "Relationships and Nature of Contracts in the Distribution Structure for Responsible Trade," Working Papers 2018-2019_10, CATT - UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, revised Oct 2019.
    4. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relationships and nature of contracts in the distribution structure for responsible trade," Working Papers hal-02937865, HAL.
    5. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relevance of potential supply structures in frameworks involving consumer's private information: the case of fair trade," Working papers of CATT hal-02937902, HAL.
    6. Florence TOUYA, 2019. "Relevance of Potential Supply Structures in Frameworks involving Consumer's private Information: the Case of Fair Trade," Working Papers 2018-2019_12, CATT - UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, revised Aug 2019.
    7. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relevance of potential supply structures in frameworks involving consumer's private information: the case of fair trade," Working Papers hal-02937902, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Evolutionary stability; assortativity; morality; homo moralis; public goods; contests; helping; Cournot competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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