On the Origin of the Family

Marco Francesconi, Christian Ghiglino and Motty Perry

No 270431, Economic Research Papers from University of Warwick - Department of Economics

Abstract: We present a game theoretic model to explain why people form life long monogamous families. Three components are essential in our framework, paternal investment, fatherhood uncertainty, and, perhaps the most distinctive feature of all, the overlap of children of different ages. When all three conditions are present, monogamy is the most efficient form of sexual organization in the sense that it yields greater survivorship than serial monogamy, group marriage, and polygyny. Monogamy is also the only configuration that fosters altruistic ties among siblings. Finally, our result sheds light to the understanding of why most religions center around the monogamous fidelity family.

Keywords: Financial; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53
Date: 2013-06
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Related works:
Working Paper: On the Origin of the Family (2010)
Working Paper: On the Origin of the Family (2010)
Working Paper: On the Origin of the Family (2010)
Working Paper: On the Origin of the Family (2010)
Working Paper: On the Origin of the Family (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uwarer:270431

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.270431

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