Can evolutionary algorithms describe learning processes?

Thomas Brenner ()

Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 1998, vol. 8, issue 3, 283 pages

Abstract: Evolutionary algorithms have attracted more and more the attention of economists in recent years. Repeatedly it is claimed that they are an adequate tool to describe learning processes within a population of individuals. The present paper examines this claim. To this end, a learning model is set up that contains the three elements of variation, elimination, and imitation that are claimed to correspond with the processes of mutation, selection, and replication of biological evolution. Subsequently, this model is compared with a formulation of evolutionary algorithms. The comparison reveals that although both processes have a similar structure there are crucial differences between the two dynamics.

Keywords: Social evolution; Evolutionary algorithms; Learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 C50 D71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-09-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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