Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T15:05:09.994Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social transmission bias and the cultural evolution of folk-economic beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2018

David Hirshleifer  and
Siew Hong Teoh
David Hirshleifer
Affiliation:
Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697. [email protected]@uci.eduhttp://sites.uci.edu/dhirshle/http://sites.uci.edu/steoh/
Siew Hong Teoh
Affiliation:
Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697. [email protected]@uci.eduhttp://sites.uci.edu/dhirshle/http://sites.uci.edu/steoh/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, B. (2008) The myth of the rational voter: Why democracies choose bad policies. (New edition, with a new preface by the author). Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1976) The selfish gene. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Distin, K. (2004) The selfish meme: A critical reassessment. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Han, B., Hirshleifer, D. & Walden, J. (2018) Social transmission bias and investor behavior. Rotman School of Management Working Paper No. 3053655. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3053655 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3053655.Google Scholar
Hirshleifer, D. (2008) Psychological bias as a driver of financial regulation. European Financial Management 14(5):856–74. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-036X.2007.00437.x.Google Scholar
Hirshleifer, D. & Teoh, S. H. (2009) The psychological attraction approach to accounting and disclosure policy. Contemporary Accounting Research 26(4):1067–90. doi:10.1506/car.26.4.3.Google Scholar
Hirshleifer, D. & Teoh, S. H. (2010) Psychological influences on financial regulation and policy. In: Behavioral finance: investors, corporations, and markets, ed. Baker, H. K. & Nofsinger, J. R., Ch. 9, pp. 151–67. Wiley.Google Scholar
Hull, D. (1980) Individuality and selection. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 11:311–32.Google Scholar
Rubin, P. H. (2002) Darwinian politics: The evolutionary origin of freedom. Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. (1982) Repetition and rated truth value of statements. American Journal of Psychology 95(3):393–407.Google Scholar