Cultural Evolution and the Deep Roots of Cooperation: A Unified Perspective

Oded Galor

No 1714, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: This essay frames the evolution of human cooperation as a two-layer process. A foundational layer, rooted in subsistence and ecological pressures, shaped cooperative dispositions unevenly, whereas an expansionary layer, rooted in conflict, political stratification, and shared infrastructure, generated largescale, institutionalized cooperation. The first evolutionary layer unfolded over the grand arc of human evolution, reinforcing the capacity for small-scale cooperation in hunter-gatherer societies while favoring traits complementary to cooperation only in some sedentary societies. The second evolutionary layer emerged as rising population density heightened external threats, fostered coercive centralized authority, and raised the returns to public infrastructure. In environments where cooperative traits had already evolved, warfare, extraction, and infrastructure provision reinforced these predispositions, scaling them into durable collective institutions. Yet in regions where such cultural foundations were absent, large-scale collective action was more challenging, and conflict was often destabilizing, magnifying division and political fragility. Recognizing the profound global heterogeneity in this foundational layer of cooperative behavior is essential for identifying the origins of large-scale cooperation and the conditions under which conflict enhanced this capacity.

Keywords: Cultural Evolution; Unified Growth Theory; Future-oriented mindset; Cooperation; Malthusian epoch; The Journey of Humanity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 O40 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1714

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