Primogeniture, Monogamy and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society

Ted Bergstrom ()

ELSE working papers from ESRC Centre on Economics Learning and Social Evolution

Abstract: This paper explores the workings of stratified societies in which there is pri- mogeniture and where the nobility practice monogamous marriage with a double standard of sexual fidelity. The paper models a simple stratified society and defines the reproductive values of male and female nobility relative to that of commoners. It goes on to explore implications of the hypothesis that preferences have evolved to favor maximization of reproductive value. This hypothesis is tested against fragmentary data from ancient civilizations and quite detailed information about the British aristocracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This work has been heavily in uenced by theoretical discussions and empirical evidence found in the writings of an anthropologist, Laura Betzig, and an historian Lawrence Stone.

References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society (1994)
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy, and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy, and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:els:esrcls:044

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ELSE working papers from ESRC Centre on Economics Learning and Social Evolution Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by s. malkani ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).