The Role of Biology and Culture in Veblenian Consumption Dynamics

Christian Cordes

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography

Abstract: This paper incorporates aspects of humans’ evolved cognition into a formal model of cultural evolution and scrutinizes their interactions with population-level processes. It is shown how the biased transmission of different kinds of behavior via cultural learning processes influences agents’ consumption behavior. Thereby, the model’s learning dynamics are capable of generating typical Veblenian consumption dynamics. Based on these insights, the paper then scrutinizes on the role of humans’ biological heritage and Darwinian concepts in the development of economic theories in general. Moreover, the relation of the ontological basis of biological and cultural evolution is addressed.

Keywords: Conspicuous consumption; Economic theory development; Evolutionary economics; Darwinism; Cultural evolution Length 31 pages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 B41 B52 C60 D11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-hpe, nep-pke and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Role of Biology and Culture in Veblenian Consumption Dynamics (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:esi:evopap:2007-13

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