Natural Selection and the Origin of Economic Growth

Abstract

This research develops an evolutionary growth theory that captures the interplay between the evolution of mankind and economic growth since the emergence of the human species. This uni…ed theory encompasses the observed evolution of population, technology and income per capita in the long transition from an epoch of Malthusian stagnation to sustained economic growth. The theory suggests that prolonged economic stagnation prior to the transition to sustained growth stimulated natural selection that shaped the evolution of the human species, whereas the evolution of the human species was the origin of the take-o¤ from an epoch of stagnation to sustained growth.

The long-run impact of human capital on innovation and economic development in the regions of Europe

“…Finally, the newest contribution in the area of human capital theory and economic growth are the Unified Growth models (e.g., Galor and Weil 2000;Galor and Moav 2002;Galor 2005Galor , 2012. Their aim is to explain economic development in the (very) long run.…”

“…For example, some of the most important fundamental factors for long-run growth are the quality of institutions (e.g., North 1981;Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2005) and geography and naturally given geographical conditions (e.g., Diamond 1997;Engerman and Sokoloff 2000). Approximate causes of growth include income inequality (e.g., Alesina andRodrik 1994, Persson andTabellini 1994), land inequality (e.g., Galor, Moav, and Vollrath 2009) and human capital accumulation (Galor and Moav 2002;Glaeser et al 2004). For instance, an increase in human capital may induce a rise in the number of innovative entrepreneurs and products, thus indirectly spurring economic development through the channel of innovation.…”

The long-run determinants of fertility: one century of demographic change 1900–1999

“…Moreover, the time-cost idea and the child quality-quantity trade off have been refined in several new ways. For example, it has been proposed that rising income-as a proxy for technological progress-is associated with a reduction of the comparative advantage of men in production and thus rises the opportunity cost of fertility for women (Galor and Weil 1996), that technological progress raises the importance of human capital (education, child quality) vis a vis raw labor in production since educated individuals have a comparative advantage in a changing technological environment (Galor and Weil 2000;Galor and Moav 2002), and that technological progress changes the structural composition of the economy toward manufacturing and thus raises the relative price of nutrition, i.e. the relative price of child quantity (Kögel and Prskawetz 2001;Strulik and Weisdorf 2008).…”

Survival of the Richest? Social Status, Fertility, and Social Mobility in England 1541-1824

“…Clark himself seems rather agnostic on the actual mechanisms spreading these values. If this was indeed happening then it raises a number of crucial questions: was the spread of middle class values due to a Lamarckian process of cultural transmission or one of genetic survival, which seems to be gaining ground as an explanation within Unified Growth Theory (Galor and Moav 2002;Galor 2005)? We also seek to shed light on this question.…”