Francesconi, Marco and Ghiglino, Christian and Perry, Motty (2016) An evolutionary theory of monogamy. Journal of Economic Theory, 166 (C). pp. 605-628. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2016.10.001
Francesconi, Marco and Ghiglino, Christian and Perry, Motty (2016) An evolutionary theory of monogamy. Journal of Economic Theory, 166 (C). pp. 605-628. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2016.10.001
Francesconi, Marco and Ghiglino, Christian and Perry, Motty (2016) An evolutionary theory of monogamy. Journal of Economic Theory, 166 (C). pp. 605-628. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2016.10.001
Abstract
This paper presents a non-cooperative evolutionary model to explain the widespread diffusion of lifelong monogamous families. The essential condition, unique to humans, is the overlap of children of different ages. Under this condition, together with the salience of paternal investment and fatherhood uncertainty, monogamy attains a greater survivorship than serial monogamy and polygyny. This result is robust to a number of extensions, including the presence of kin ties, resource inequality, group marriage, and the risk of adult mortality.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Overlapping generations; Free riding; Serial monogamy; Polygyny; kinship; Social norms |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2016 14:23 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 20:01 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/17766 |
Available files
Filename: 1-s2.0-S0022053116300874-main.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0