The Evolution of Economic Behaviour

Abstract

The biological bases of economics include all those biological factors that influence the economic behaviour of individual animals. Humans are animals, and another way of addressing the subject is to ask — what are the fundamental biological factors that influence microeconomic behaviour? We need to start with some fundamental biological concepts, because human behaviour, including economic behaviour, is the product of evolutionary pressures that are the result of natural selection, whether they be cultural or genetic. Any student of economic behaviour should consider whether, and to what extent, such influences are important, because it is possible that the homunculus within current economic theory may be too simple, and not truly representative of the behaviour of ordinary people. In this book we will be exploring an array of biological phenomena, and inviting the student of economics to consider to what extent they are relevant to the modern economic situation.