Convener: Samuel Bowles in collaboration with Larry Blume, Robert Boyd, Herbert Gintis and Peyton Young
Link to Agenda for 2018 Meeting
Some of the 2018 working group participants (and a future participant) hit the trail
2012 participants. Photograph: Laura Ware
2009 participants
Participants 2015
Erol Akcay (Biology, University of Pennsylvania)
Lawrence Blume (Economics, Cornell University)
Amy Bogaard (Archaeology, University of Oxford)
Rob Boyd (Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University)
Arun Chandrasekhar (Economics, University of Stanford)
Bernard Crespi (Biosciences, Simon Fraser University)
Mattia Fochesato (Economics, University of Siena)
Herb Gintis (Central European University)
Matthew Koehler (The MITRE Corporation)
Branko Milanovic (Economics, City University of New York)
Raul Sanchez de la Sierra (Harvard University)
Daniel Trefler (University of Toronto and CIFAR)
Peyton Young (Economics, University of Oxford)
2015 Meeting Agenda
Papers Presented 2015
“Darwin’s Pin Factory: Evolutionary-Economic Convergences between Humans and Social Insects,“ by Richard D. Alexander and William D. Hamilton
“Origins of Europe North-South Divide: Demographic shocks, institutions and wage divergence in early modern Europe,” by Mattia Fochesato
“Trends in global income inequality and their political implications,” by Branko Milanovic
Map – “Growing inter-country income differences and migration: Key seven borders today” by Branko Milanovic
“Biological institutions: an institutional perspective on biological cooperation” by Erol Akcay
“International trade and institutional change: Medieval Venicce’s response to globalization,” by Diego Puga and Daniel Trefler
“The Diffusion of a Social Innovation: Executive Stock Options 1936-2005” by Lucas M. Brown and H. Peyton Young
Participants 2014
Diego Gambetta (Sociology, University of Oxford)
Pauline Grosjean (Economics, University of New South Wales)
Kim Hill (Anthropology, ASU)
Curtis Marean (Archaeology, ASU)
Suresh Naidu (Economics Columbia)
Amanda Lea Robinson (Political Science, Ohio State University)
Walter Scheidel (Classics, Stanford)
Papers Presented 2014
“A Trap for Social Inclusion: Prejudice, Oligarchy, and Rivalry,” by Leonardo Boncinelli and Simone D’Alessandro
“Zoon Politicon: The Evolutionary Roots of Human Sociopolitical Systems,“ by Herbert Gintis and Carel van Schaik
“State Development and Violence: The Culture of Honor in the South; The Homicide Resource Curse,“ by Pauline Grosjean
“The Transition to Specialized Decision Making,“ by Kim Hill
“Coastal Foragers and the Origins of Modern Human Behavior,“ by Curtis W. Marean
“The Geography of Ethnic Diversity: Origins and Implications in Sub-Saharan Africa,“ by Amanda Lea Robinson
“Unmaking Inequality: A History of Violence,“ by Walter Scheidel
Background Papers 2014
“The behavioral foundations of the Italian North-South divide,” by Diego Gambetta
“The origin of specialized decision making in human society,” by Kim Hill
“Coastal South Africa and the Coevolution of the Modern Human Lineage and the Coastal Adaptation,“ by Curtis Marean
“The Origins and Significance of Coastal Resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia,“ by Curtis Marean
“Rule of Law, Riches, and Rogues: a new perspective on the resource curse,” by Pauline Grosjean
“Internal Borders: Ethnic Diversity and Markeet Segmentation in Malawi,“ by Amanda Lea Robinson
“Ethnic Diversity, Segregation, and Ethnocentric Trust in Africa,“ by Amanda Lea Robinson
“Nationalism and Interethnic Trust: Evidence from an African Border Region,“ by Amanda Lea Robinson
“Geographic axes and the persistence of cultural diversity,“ by David D. Laitin, Joachim Moortgat, and Amanda Lea Robinson
“Contested property: fugitive slaves in the Antebellum Southy,” by Suresh Naidu and Jeremiah Dittmar
Participants 2012
Bob Allen (Economic History, Oxford)
Ingvild Almas (Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen)
Mahzarin Banaji (Psychology, Harvard)
Robert Boyd (Anthropology, UCLA)
Herbert Gintis (Econmomics, Central European University, Budapest)
Avner Greif (Economic History, Stanford)
Matthew O. Jackson (Economics, Stanford)
Ugo Pagano (Economics, Siena)
Liz Phelps (Neuroscience, NYU)
Rebecca Saxe (Neuroscience, MIT)
H. Peyton Young (Economics, University of Oxford)
Bruce Winterhalder (Archaeology, UC Davis)
Background Papers 2012
“Fairness and the Development of Inequality Acceptance,“ by Ingvild Almas, Alexander W. Cappelen, Erik O. Sorensen, and Bertil Tungodden
“Explaining Gender Differences in Competitiveness,“ by Ingvild Almas, Alexander W. Cappelen, Kjell G. Salvanes, Erik O. Sorensen, and Bertil Tungodden
“Two Signatures of the Development of Implicit Intergroup Attitudes: Developmental Invariance and Early Enculturation,“ by Yarrow Dunham, Eva E. Chen, and Mahzarin R. Banaji
“International Trade, Factor Mobility and the Persisstence of Cultural-Institutional Diversity,“ by Marianna Belloc and Samuel Bowles
“Human Evolution: A Behavioral Synthesis,“ by Herbert Gintis
“The Clan and the City: Sustaining Cooperation in China and Europe,“ by Avner Grief and Guido Tabellini
“Cultural and Instutional Bifurcation: China and Europe Compared,“ by Avner Grief and Guido Tabellini
“The Puzzle of Monogamous Marriage,“ by Joseph Henrich, Robert Boyd, and Peter J. Richerson
“Social Capital and Social Quilts: Network Patterns of Favor Exchange,“ by Matthew O. Jackson, Tomas Rodriguez-Barraquer, and Xu Tan
“Fast Convergence in Evolutionary Equilibrium Selection,“ by Gabriel E. Kreindler and H. Peyton Young
“Love, War and Cultures: An Institutional Approach to Human Evolution,“ by Ugo Pagano
“Interlocking Complementarities and Institutional Change,“ by Ugo Pagano
“An Ecological Model for the Emergence of Instutionalized Social Hierarchies on California’s Northern Channel Islands,“ by Douglas J. Kennett, Bruce Winterhalder, Jacob Bartruff, and Jon M. Erlandson
(The Kennett et al 2009 paper is the shorter and more general background paper for my presentation. For those wishing greater thoroughness and depth, Winterhalder et al 2010 develops the argument with greater empirical and statistical resources. I will summarize the 2010 results briefly at the beginning of my presentation.)
“Ideal Free Settlement of California’s Northern Channel Islands,“ by Bruce Winterhalder, Douglas J. Kennett, Mark N. Grote, and Jacob Bartruff
Background Papers 2011
“The Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough (Prelliminary),“ by Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, and Nathan Nunn
“Coups, Corporations, and Classified Information,“ by Arindrajit Dube, Ethan Kaplan, and Suresh Naidu
“The Inefficiency of Exchange and the Liberal Trinity,“ by Samuel Bowles
“Was There Ever A Ruling Class? 1,000 Years of Social Mobility,“ by Gregory Clark
“Climate Policy and Innovation in the Absence of Commitment,“ by Ashokankur Datta and E. Somanathan
“Evolution of Monogamous Marraige by Maximization of Inclusive Fitness,“ by Laura Fortunato and Marco Archetti
“Evolution of Monogamous Marraige by Maximization of Inclusive Fitness (Supporting Information),“ by Laura Fortunato and Marco Archetti
“Are Incentives Overused in Cases Where They Crowd Out Pro-social Motivations?,” by Sung-Ha Hwang and Samuel Bowles
“Occupational Choices: Economic Determinants of Land Invasions,” by F. Daniel Hidalgo, Suresh Naidu, Simeon Nichter, and Neal Richardson
“Intergenerational Justice when Future Worlds are Uncertain,” by Humberto Llavador, John E. Roemer, and Joaquim Silvestre
“How Green Was My Valley? Coercive Contract Enforcement in the 19th Century Industrial Britain,” by Suresh Naidu and Noam Yuchtman
“Veblen Effects, Political Representation, and the Reduction in Working Time over The 20th Century,” by Seung-Yun Oh, Yongjin Park, and Samuel Bowles
“Parental Investment, Sexual Selection and Sex Ratios,” by Hanna Kokko and Michael D. Jennions
“Power and Conflict in the Contested Commons: A Model and Applicatioon to Uluabat Lake, Turkey,” by Ceren I. Soylu
“The Dynamics of Social Innovation,” by H. Peyton Young
Presentations 2010
Michele Boldrin, (Economics, Washington University, St. Louis) “Ending Intellectual Monopoly.”
Sam Bowles, (Behavioral Sciences, SFI) “Is Liberal Society a Parasite on Tradition?”
Charles Efferson, (Institute for Empirical Research in Economics and the Laboratory for the Study of Social and Neural Systems, U of Zurich) “The Ultimate Origins of Human Pro-Social Behavior: An Empirical Test.”
Edoardo Gallo, (Economics, Oxford) “Bargaining and Social Structure.”
Michele A. Klein and Robert Boyd (Anthropology, UCLA) “Technological Progress as Cultural Adaptation: Demographic Influences on Tool Complexity in Oceania.”
Glenn Loury, (Economics, Brown) “Stereotypes and Inequality.”
Sarah Mathew, (Anthropology, UCLA) “The Collective Action Problem in Pre-state Warfare.”
John Mikhail, (Philosophy and Law, Georgetown) “Elements of Moral Cognition.”
Rajiv Sethi, (Economics, Columbia University) either “Homicide in Black and White” or “Caste Hierarchies and Social Mobility in India” (to be determined).
Background Papers 2010
“Heterogeneity, Selection and Wealth Dynamics,” by Lawrence Blume and David Easley
“Intellectual Monopoly,” by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine
“Quality Ladders, Competition and Endogenousn Growth,” by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine
“Is Liberal Society a Parasite on Tradition?,” by Samuel Bowles
Machiavelli’s Mistake: Why Good Laws are no Substitute for Good Citizens,” by Samuel Bowles
“Gaming Performance Fees by Portfolio Managers,” by Dean P. Foster and H. Peyton Young
“Bargaining and Social Structure,” by Edoardo Gallo
“Towards a Renaissance of Economic Theory,” by Herbert Gintis
“Population Size Predicts Technological Complexity in Oceania,” by Michelle A. Kline and Robert Boyd (rboyd@anthro.ucla.edu)
“An Economic Analysis of Color-Blind Affirmative Action,” by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Glenn C. Loury
“Valuing Identity: The Simple Economics of Affirmative Action Policies,” by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Glenn C. Loury
“Moral Grammar and Intuitive Jurisprudence: A Formal Model of Unconscious Moral and Legal Knowledge,” by John Mikhail
“Universal Moral Grammar: Theory, Evidence and the Future,” by John Mikhail
“Homicide in Black and White,” by Brendan O’Flaherty and Rajiv Sethi
“The Scope of Cooperation: Values and Incentives,” by Guido Tabellini
“Institutions and Culture,” by Guido Tabellini
Presentations 2009
Ray Jackendoff, (Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts) “The cognitive structure of values, fairness, and reciprocity”
Jean-Paul Carvalho, (Economics, Oxford) “A Theory of the Islamic Revival”
Peter Lindert, (Economics, UC. Davis) “Ancient inequality”
Abigail Barr, (Economics, Oxford) “Homo Aegualis: Cross cultural experimental evidence of inequality aversion”
Annie Bissonnette, (Anthropological Institute of the University of Zurich) “Leveling coalitions in non human primates”
Rob Boyd, (Anthropology, UCLA) “The division of labor and the origins inequality”
Linda Vigilant and Kevin Langergraber, (Primatology Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) “Evolutionary effects of group competition among Chimpanzees”
Yochai Benkler, (Harvard Law School) “Policy-design when preferences depend on incentives”
Sam Bowles, (Behavioral Science, SFI) “The nature of wealth and the dynamics of inequality” (research with Monique Borgerhoff Mulder and 21others)
Selected papers presented 2000-2009.
Background Papers 2009
“Homo AEqualis: A Cross-Society Experimental Analysis of Three Gargaining Games,“ by Abigail Barr, Chris Wallace, Jean Ensminger, Joseph Henrich, Clark Barrett, Alexander Bolyanatz, Juan Camilo Cardenas, Michael Gurven, Edwins Gwako, Carolyn Lesorogol, Frank Marlowe, Richard McElreath, David Tracer, and John Ziker
“Ancient Inequality,” by Branko Milanovic, Peter H. Lindert, and Jeffrey G. Williamson
“A Theory of the Islamic Revival,” by Jean-Paul Carvalho
“The Peculiar Logic of Value,” by Ray Jackendoff
“Group Competition, Reproductive Leveling, and the Evolution of Human Altruism,” by Samuel Bowles
“Division of Labor, Economic Specializatioon, and the Evolution of Social Stratification,” by Joseph Henrich and Robert Boyd
“Conflict and Cooperation in Wild Chimpanzees,” by Martin N. Muller and John C. Mitani
“Law, Policy, and Cooperation,” by Yochai Benkler
“Toward a General Model for Male-Male Coalitions in Primate Groups,” by Carel P. van Schaik, Sagar A. Pandit, and Erin R. Vogel
“The Tax Evasion Social Multiplier: Evidence from Italy,” by Roberto Galbiati and Giulio Zanella