Social Transmission Bias and the Cultural Evolution of Folk Economic Beliefs

David Hirshleifer and Siew Hong Teoh

December 2017

Abstract:

Evolved dispositions influence, but do not determine, how people think about economic problems. The evolutionary cognitive approach offers important insights, but underweights the social transmission of ideas as a level of explanation. The need for a social explanation for the evolution of economic attitudes is evidenced, for example, by immense variations in folk economic beliefs over time and across individuals.

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