The American Economic Review
Journal Article

Malthusian Selection of Preferences

Ingemar Hansson and Charles Stuart
The American Economic Review
Vol. 80, No. 3 (Jun., 1990), pp. 529-544
Published by: American Economic Association
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2006682
Page Count: 16

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Topics: Clans, Consumption, Carrying capacity, Steady state economies, Population growth rate, Marginal rate of substitution, Ecological competition, Sustainable consumption, Stellar populations
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Malthusian Selection of Preferences
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Abstract

We study natural selection of preferences using a golden-age model with endogenous population. In equilibrium, all agents have preferences with maximum biological fitness given resource constraints and total population is the maximum the environment can sustain. Naturally selected agents follow the golden rule, acting as if they maximize the undiscounted sum of per-capita felicities of current and future generations. Selected preferences and hence work, saving, consumption, and population density vary predictably with environmental differences.
The American Economic Review © 1990 American Economic Association