> New theory explains economic growth in terms of evolutionary biology
>
> The struggle for survival that characterized most of human existence
> stimulated a process of natural selection that conferred an evolutionary
> advantage on humans who had a higher genetic predisposition for a careful
> rearing of the next generation. This evolutionary change permitted the
> Industrial Revolution to trigger a change from an epoch of stagnation to
an age
> of sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that
integrates the
> fields of evolutionary biology and economic growth. This research by Brown
> University economist Oded Galor and Omer Moav from the Hebrew University
is the
> lead article in the current Quarterly Journal of Economics.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> PROVIDENCE, R.I. - It took an evolutionary leap in the human species
to
> help trigger the change from centuries of economic stagnation to a state
of
> sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that integrates
> evolutionary biology and economics.
>
> "Until now, economic growth theory did not have implications for
> evolutionary biology, and evolutionary biology did not have implications
for
> economic growth," said lead theorist Oded Galor, professor of economics at
> Brown University.
>
> This new theory, the first of its kind ever proposed in the
economics
> literature, appears as the lead article in the current Quarterly Journal
of
> Economics. It is co-authored by Omer Moav of the Hebrew University of
> Jerusalem.
>
> "The struggle for survival that had characterized most of human
existence
> stimulated a process of natural selection and generated an evolutionary
> advantage to human traits that were complementary to the growth process,
> triggering the takeoff from an epoch of stagnation to sustained economic
> growth," the authors wrote in their study.
>
> The evolution of the human brain in the transition to Homo sapiens
> "increased the evolutionarily optimal investment in offspring's quality,"
said
> Galor. "This was due to the complementary relationship between brain
capacity
> and the return to investment in human capital."
>
> The process gave an evolutionary advantage to people who had higher
> valuation toward offspring's quality, Galor said. "The subsequently
increased
> prevalence of this genetic trait in the population ultimately permitted
the
> Industrial Revolution to trigger a transition to a state of sustained
economic
> growth."
>
> The critical natural selection that occurred prior to the Industrial
> Revolution involved the fundamental tradeoff between child-caring and
> child-rearing. The "epoch of stagnation" gave an evolutionary advantage to
a
> higher-quality smaller family rather than to lower-quality larger
families,
> Galor said.
>
> "Valuation of quality, through better nourishment and education for
> children, fed back into technological progress. And as technology
advanced, it
> fed back into more education. Human capital took off. This leap in
evolution
> came to dominate the population as a whole, and centuries of economic
> stagnation ended."
>
> The authors attribute acceleration in this evolutionary process to
the
> emergence of the nuclear family that fostered intergenerational links.
Prior to
> the agricultural revolution, 10,000 years ago, people lived among
> hunter-gatherer tribes that tended to share resources more equally.
>
> "During this hunter-gatherer period, the absence of direct
> intergenerational links between parental resources and investment in their
> offspring delayed the evolutionary advantage of a preference for
high-quality
> children," said the authors.
>
> In fact, according to the theory, a switch back to a quantity
emphasis
> began to take place in the 20th century.
>
> "During the transition from stagnation to growth, once the economic
> environment improved sufficiently, the evolutionary pressure weakened and
the
> significance of quality for survival declined," said Galor. The inherent
> advantage in reproduction of people who highly value a large number of
children
> gradually dominated and their fertility rates ultimately overtook the
fertility
> rates of people who value high-quality children, he said.
>
> "Oded Galor's tendency to ask big, important questions, to be
tackled in
> ambitious and technically sophisticated models have earned him a
well-deserved
> reputation as one of the most ingenious and interesting growth-theorists
of our
> age," said Joel Mokyr, professor of economics and history, Northwestern
> University. Mokyr is a leading expert on the history of technological
progress
> and the Industrial Revolution.
>
> "Galor and Moav have opened a new and potentially very fruitful vein
of
> thinking about the history of economies in the very long run," said Mokyr.
> "This pioneering paper is a breakthrough in its use of population dynamics
in
> long-term historical change and in applying Darwinian logic to the history
of
> mankind."
>
> The predictions of the proposed theory are consistent with the time
path
> of population, technology and income since the emergence of Homo sapiens,
said
> Galor.
>
> "Once biologists identify the genes that control fertility behavior,
the
> predictions of the theory in the context of the evolution of the human
species
> could be tested as well, comparing genetic valuation for quality in
> hunter-gatherer tribes to those in societies that have experienced the
> Neolithic revolution," Galor said.
>
> According to the authors, earlier episodes of technological progress
did
> not generate a "takeoff" because the necessary human evolutionary change
had
> not yet completed its course.
>
> "The population did respond to higher return to education and
investment
> in human capital, but not aggressively enough to generate an acceleration
in
> the rate of technological progress and sustained economic growth," said
Galor.
>
> The theory generates an alternative intriguing prediction, he said.
>
> "It suggests that during the epoch of stagnation, men who were from
a
> physiological viewpoint moderately fertile (men with a moderate sperm
count),
> and who were therefore induced by nature to invest more in the quality of
their
> offspring had an evolutionary advantage over highly fertile individuals,"
Galor
> said. This would suggest that sperm count has declined in the last
thousands of
> years, he said.
>
> The National Science Foundation supported Galor's research.
>
> http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2002-03/02-040.html
>
>
>
>
