Female competition, evolution, and the battle of the sexes

Myrna Wooders and Hugo van den Berg

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: As female primates carry and nurse the fetus, it naturally falls on them to rear the offspring. On the assumption that males are at least equally adept at obtaining food, it follows that they generate a surplus which they might either share with females or consume themselves. This choice lies at the heart of an evolutionary battle of the sexes. If females succeed in obtaining a large share of the surplus, there is little scope for size dimorphism between males and females; otherwise males can use the surplus to sustain larger and stronger bodies, which are advantageous in sexual competition with other males. Besides competing with males, females may compete with each other. Moreover, dependency may coincide with sexiness and such dependency can persist. This paper examines these ideas in a game-theoretic setting.

Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2001
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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2008/twerp620.pdf

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Working Paper: Female competition, evolution, and the battle of the sexes (2001)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:620

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