Human Brain Evolution in a Malthusian Economy

Angus Chu

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This study develops a Malthusian growth model with heterogeneous agents and natural selection to explore the evolution of human brain size. We find that if the cognitive advantage of a larger brain dominates its higher metabolic costs, then the average brain size increases over time, which is consistent with the rising trend in human brain size that started over 2 million years ago. Furthermore, an improvement in hunting-gathering productivity gives rise to a larger optimal brain size in human evolution. Finally, as the average brain size increases, the average level of hunting-gathering productivity also rises, generating a positive feedback loop.

Keywords: Natural selection; brain size evolution; Malthusian growth theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N1 O13 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des, nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-his
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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/117130/1/brain%20size%20evolution.pdf original version (application/pdf)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/118094/1/brain.pdf revised version (application/pdf)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/120927/1/MPRA_paper_120927.pdf revised version (application/pdf)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/121816/1/MPRA_paper_121816.pdf revised version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Human brain evolution in a Malthusian economy (2025)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:117130

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