How Economics can Contribute to Evolutionary Perspectives on the Family

Siwan Anderson and Chris Bidner

No 17348, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We outline the great potential of economics to contribute to evolution-based perspectives on marriage and the family. The main argument is that economics can be understood as the study of competition -- how the allocation of scarce resources is mediated by potentially complex forms of social interaction and conflicts of interest -- and that competition for resources is a central component of evolutionary explanations. Our argument is broad, but we illustrate it by focusing on conceptual and empirical approaches to a topic of interest to both economists and evolutionary scholars: polygyny.

Date: 2022-06
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