I’m not sure how much drive-by traffic gnxp is continuing to receive, but figured it worthwhile to post a note about my latest working paper, which explores whether male signalling may have a role in driving economic progress. The abstract:
Sexual Selection, Conspicuous Consumption and Economic Growth
The evolution by sexual selection of the male propensity to engage in conspicuous consumption contributed to the emergence of modern rates of economic growth. We develop a model in which males engage in conspicuous consumption to send an honest signal of their quality to females. Males who engage in conspicuous consumption have higher reproductive success than those who do not, as females respond to the costly and honest signal, increasing the prevalence of signalling males in the population over time. As males fund conspicuous consumption through participation in the labour force, the increase in the prevalence of signalling males who engage in conspicuous consumption gives rise to an increase in economic activity that leads to economic growth.
I’ve posted some background to the paper over at Evolving Economics. I’ve also received some interesting feedback, including this post on The Conversation by Rob Brooks.
Finally, I have posted on SSRN an update to my paper examining the Galor-Moav model in which economic growth is triggered by the interplay between technological progress and an inherited preference for quality or quantity of children. I posted about it on gnxp mid-last year. The revision carries the same story as the original paper, but is tighter and cuts out some of the flotsam.
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