An Evolutionary Theory of Suicide

Balázs Szentes and Caroline Thomas ()
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Balázs Szentes: Department of Economics, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK

Games, 2013, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: We analyze a model in which individuals have hereditary reproductive types. The reproductive value of an individual is determined by her reproductive type and the amount of resources she can access. We introduce the possibility of suicide and assume it is also a genetic trait that interacts with the reproductive type of an individual. The main result of the paper is that populations where suicide is possible grow faster than other populations.

Keywords: suicide; evolution; group selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C C7 C70 C71 C72 C73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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