IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmic/v2y2010i4p115-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intergenerational Cultural Transmission as an Evolutionary Game

Author

Listed:
  • James D. Montgomery

Abstract

We generalize the Bisin-Verdier model of intergenerational transmission to permit an arbitrary number of cultural traits. A key observation—that this model is equivalent to an evolutionary game under replicator dynamics—facilitates our analysis. For two special cases, obtained by restricting the pattern of "cultural distastes" between traits, we demonstrate global stability of the long-run distribution of traits using recent results on stable games and potential games. For the general three-trait case, we show that all three traits survive in the long run only if each trait satisfies an "invasion condition" involving the cultural distaste parameters. (JEL C73, D91, Z13)

Suggested Citation

  • James D. Montgomery, 2010. "Intergenerational Cultural Transmission as an Evolutionary Game," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 115-136, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:115-36
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.2.4.115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/mic.2.4.115
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto Bisin & Giorgio Topa & Thierry Verdier, 2009. "Cultural transmission, socialization and the population dynamics of multiple‐trait distributions," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(1), pages 139-154, March.
    2. Hofbauer, Josef & Sandholm, William H., 2009. "Stable games and their dynamics," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(4), pages 1665-1693.4, July.
    3. George J. Mailath, 1998. "Corrigenda [Do People Play Nash Equilibrium? Lessons from Evolutionary Game Theory]," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1941-1941, December.
    4. Sandholm, William H., 2001. "Potential Games with Continuous Player Sets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 81-108, March.
    5. Olivier, Jacques & Thoenig, Mathias & Verdier, Thierry, 2008. "Globalization and the dynamics of cultural identity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 356-370, December.
    6. Guido Tabellini, 2008. "The Scope of Cooperation: Values and Incentives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 905-950.
    7. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2000. ""Beyond the Melting Pot": Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 955-988.
    8. Luisa Escriche, 2007. "Persistence of Occupational Segregation: the Role of the Intergenerational Transmission of Preferences," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(520), pages 837-857, April.
    9. George J. Mailath, 1998. "Do People Play Nash Equilibrium? Lessons from Evolutionary Game Theory," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1347-1374, September.
    10. Larry Samuelson, 2002. "Evolution and Game Theory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 47-66, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan Newton, 2018. "Evolutionary Game Theory: A Renaissance," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-67, May.
    2. Štěpán Jurajda & Dejan Kovač, 2021. "Names and behavior in a war," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Jiabin Wu, 2021. "Matching markets and cultural selection," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 25(4), pages 267-288, December.
    4. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Falch, Ranveig & Huang, Zhongjing & Tungodden, Bertil, 2022. "Acceptance of inequality between children: Large-Scale Experimental Evidence from China and Norway," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 10/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    5. Samuel Bazzi & Arya Gaduh & Alexander D. Rothenberg & Maisy Wong, 2019. "Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(11), pages 3978-4025, November.
    6. Sandholm, William H., 2015. "Population Games and Deterministic Evolutionary Dynamics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    7. Ponthiere, Gregory, 2013. "Rationalizability and interactivity in evolutionary OLG models," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 105-116.
    8. Jiabin Wu & Hanzhe Zhang, 2022. "Polarization, antipathy, and political activism," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1005-1017, July.
    9. Hideaki Goto, 2022. "Belief in Egalitarianism and Meritocracy," Working Papers EMS_2022_05, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    10. Jiong Gong & R. Preston McAfee & Michael A. Williams, 2016. "Fraud Cycles," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 172(3), pages 544-572, September.
    11. Cheung, Man-Wah & WU, JIABIN, 2016. "On The Transmission of Continuous Cultural Traits," MPRA Paper 69934, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Cheung, Man-Wah & Wu, Jiabin, 2018. "On the probabilistic transmission of continuous cultural traits," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 300-323.
    13. Brañas-Garza, Pablo & Espinosa, María Paz & Giritligil, Ayca E., 2022. "On the transmission of democratic values," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 885-896.
    14. Jon C. Thompson & Jiabin Wu, 2018. "Legal institution and the evolution of moral conduct," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 20(5), pages 725-741, October.
    15. Garret Ridinger, 2018. "Cultural Transmission and Extortion," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maystre, Nicolas & Olivier, Jacques & Thoenig, Mathias & Verdier, Thierry, 2014. "Product-based cultural change: Is the village global?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 212-230.
    2. Conlon, John R., 2003. "Hope springs eternal: learning and the stability of cooperation in short horizon repeated games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 35-65, September.
    3. Alberto Locarno, 2012. "Monetary policy in a model with misspecified, heterogeneous and ever-changing expectations," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 888, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Ponthiere, Gregory, 2013. "Rationalizability and interactivity in evolutionary OLG models," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 105-116.
    5. Jiabin Wu & Hanzhe Zhang, 2022. "Polarization, antipathy, and political activism," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1005-1017, July.
    6. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2010. "The Economics of Cultural Transmission and Socialization," Post-Print halshs-00754788, HAL.
    7. Tassos Patokos, 2014. "Introducing Disappointment Dynamics and Comparing Behaviors in Evolutionary Games: Some Simulation Results," Games, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-25, January.
    8. Locarno, Alberto & Delle Monache, Davide & Busetti, Fabio & Gerali, Andrea, 2017. "Trust, but verify. De-anchoring of inflation expectations under learning and heterogeneity," Working Paper Series 1994, European Central Bank.
    9. Casajus, André & Kramm, Michael & Wiese, Harald, 2020. "Asymptotic stability in the Lovász-Shapley replicator dynamic for cooperative games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    10. Panebianco, Fabrizio, 2014. "Socialization networks and the transmission of interethnic attitudes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 583-610.
    11. Gregory Ponthiere, 2011. "Mortality, Family and Lifestyles," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 175-190, June.
    12. Choy, James P., 2016. "Constructing Social Division to Support Cooperation," Economic Research Papers 269582, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    13. Diego Iribarren, 2003. "From Economic Activity to Understanding Spaces," Econometrics 0303008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Lozano, Javier & Blanco, Ester & Rey-Maquieira, Javier, 2010. "Can ecolabels survive in the long run?: The role of initial conditions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 2525-2534, October.
    15. J. Barkley Rosser, 1999. "On the Complexities of Complex Economic Dynamics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 169-192, Fall.
    16. Daron Acemoglu, 2022. "Obedience in the Labour Market and Social Mobility: A Socioeconomic Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 2-37, June.
    17. Mohammad H. Sepahvand & Roujman Shahbazian, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes in Burkina Faso," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 503-527, July.
    18. Daniel John Zizzo & Daniel Sgroi, 2001. "Bounded-Rational Behavior by Neural Networks in Normal Form Games," Economics Series Working Papers 2000-W30, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    19. Willemien Kets & Alvaro Sandroni, 2021. "A Theory of Strategic Uncertainty and Cultural Diversity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(1), pages 287-333.
    20. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2015. "Corporate Culture, Societal Culture, and Institutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 336-339, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:115-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.