nep-evo New Economics Papers
on Evolutionary Economics
Issue of 2024‒07‒15
three papers chosen by
Matthew Baker, City University of New York


  1. Proximate and ultimate drivers of norms and norm change By Alger, Ingela; Gavrilets, Sergey; Durkee, Patrick
  2. How did the European marriage pattern persist? Social versus familial inheritance: England and Quebec, 1650–1850 By Clark, Gregory; Cummins, Neil; Curtis, Matthew
  3. Gendered change: 150 years of transformation in US hours By L. Rachel Ngai; Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo

  1. By: Alger, Ingela; Gavrilets, Sergey; Durkee, Patrick
    Abstract: We describe a formal model of norm psychology that can be applied to better un-derstand norm change. The model integrates several proximate drivers of normative behavior: beliefs and preferences about a) material payoffs, b) personal norms, c) peer disapproval, d) conformity, and e) authority compliance. Additionally, we review inter-disciplinary research on ultimate foundations of these proximate drivers of normative behavior. Finally, we discuss opportunities for integration between the proposed formal framework and several psychological sub-fields.
    Keywords: ocial norms, preferences, beliefs, evolutionary foundations, ultimate drivers, proximate drivers, interdisciplinary research
    Date: 2024–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:iastwp:129422&r=
  2. By: Clark, Gregory; Cummins, Neil; Curtis, Matthew
    Abstract: The European Marriage Pattern (EMP), in place in NW Europe for perhaps 500 years, substantially limited fertility. But how could such limitation persist when some individuals who deviated from the EMP norm had more children? If their children inherited their deviant behaviors, their descendants would quickly become the majority of later generations. This puzzle has two possible solutions. The first is that all those that deviated actually had lower net fertility over multiple generations. We show, however, no fertility penalty to future generations from higher initial fertility. Instead the EMP survived because even though the EMP persisted at the social level, children did not inherit their parents’ individual fertility choices. In the paper we show evidence consistent with lateral, as opposed to vertical, transmission of EMP fertility behaviors.
    Keywords: demography; economic history; European marriage pattern; selection pressures; Elsevier deal
    JEL: N13 N11 J12
    Date: 2024–05–01
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:123433&r=
  3. By: L. Rachel Ngai; Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo
    Abstract: Women's contribution to the economy has been markedly underestimated in predominantly agricultural societies, due to their widespread involvement in unpaid agricultural work. Combining data from the US Census and several early sources, we create a consistent measure of male and female employment and hours for the US for 1870-2019, including paid work and unpaid work in family farms and non-farm businesses. The resulting measure of hours traces a U-shape for women, with a modest decline up to mid-20th century followed by a sustained increase, and a monotonic decline for men. We propose a multisector economy with uneven productivity growth, income effects, and consumption complementarity across sectoral outputs. During early development stages, declining agriculture leads to rising services - both in the market and the home - and leisure, reducing market work for both genders. In later stages, structural transformation reallocates labor from manufacturing into services, while marketization reallocates labor from home to market services. Given gender comparative advantages, the first channel is more relevant for men, reducing male hours, while the second channel is more relevant for women, increasing female hours. Our quantitative illustration suggests that structural transformation and marketization can account for the overall decline in market hours from 1880-1950, and one quarter of the rise and decline, respectively, in female and male market hours from 1950-2019.
    Keywords: hours, work, gender, structural transformation
    Date: 2024–06–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2001&r=

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