Arbeitspapier

Rules, Preferences and Evolution from the Family Angle

This paper reviews the literature concerning the evolution of cultural traits in general and preferences in particular, and the emergence and persistence of rules or norms, from a family per-spective. In models where every new person is effectively the clone of an existing one (either a parent or anyone else), there may be evolution only in the demographic sense that the share of the population who hold a certain trait increases or decreases. Evolution in the strict sense of new traits making their appearance occurs in models where the trait characterizing any given member of any given generation is a combination of traits drawn at random from those represented in the previous generation. Preferences may be altruistic or non-altruistic, but individuals may behave as if they were altruistic even if they are not, because a rule or norm may make it in their interest to do so. Evolutionary stability and renegotiation proofness play analogous roles, the former by selecting altruistic preferences, and the latter by selecting cooperation-inducing rules.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 9226

Classification
Wirtschaft
Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General
Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Subject
evolution
preferences
family rules
social norms
socialization
matching
hold-up problem

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Cigno, Alessandro
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
(where)
Munich
(when)
2021

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Cigno, Alessandro
  • Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)

Time of origin

  • 2021

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