Evolution viewed through lens of economics?

February 23, 2006 8:16 AM

Using concepts from economics as a way to understand/explain evolution -- Does anyone know any good online or print resources that develop or discuss this?

For example -- eyes, which are an expensive investment of resources for the organism (they take up a lot of energy and are complex and easy to injure), pay off for an organism that can benefit from enhanced vision in its environment. If the organism then spreads to a lightless environment like the deep ocean or a cave, however, the return on investment (ROI) for eyes drops to zero, and eventually eyes in that organism become vestigial, and the creature develops radar/sense of smell instead. The more I consider evolution in the light of economics, the more parallels I find, and I'm sure someone else has already explored this -- so if you have any suggestions for reading, I'd be grateful if you'd pass them on. Thanks.

posted by jfwlucy to science & nature (6 comments total)

the creature develops radar/sense of smell instead

Although it is likely that its descendents will devote less resources to vision, it is not guaranteed that they will devote more resources to other senses. They may instead shift between r and k strategies, for example, and so you will see a change in population dynamics.

One analogy useful for thinking about evolution is as a random walk through a "genomic fitness landscape", that itself is mapped onto a phenotypic fitness landscape. I understand many econonmics models use the idea of a continuum/landscape analogy. These ideas seem similar, and probably many of the models for development in a landscape display, well, convergent evolution. Dennet has a lot to say on this subject in Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
posted by meehawl at 8:31 AM on February 23, 2006

The parallels are there because scarcity drives both economic and evolutionary processes.

This is a dangerous comparison however, because economics fundamentally concerns choice in the face of scarcity, while evolution concerns adaptation.

Even macroeconomics, which deals with large populations, concerns many choosing individuals, and the basic stuff I know about modern macro theories concerns generalising from the individual's choice function.

I don't think there's any consideration in economics for the method of randomly trying every tack until something deals with the scarcity at hand.
posted by godawful at 8:38 AM on February 23, 2006

Regarding economic metaphors for biology or vice versa, a perusal of some economic literature indicates that work has been done in this area.

The name Geoffrey Hodgson keep popping up.

Apparently he has done some work at the Max Plank Institute.

They have some online journal articles which don't require a subsciption or anything. This one, in particular, looks like it has a nice literature survey that may point you in the right direction.

As a small aside, I should mention that institutional economics AKA transactions costs economics as typified in the work of Ronald Coase is a highly regarded area of economics. This evolutionary economics stuff looks a bit "off the grid" to me. But who cares? Economists can be a rigid bunch. And you're more interested in an economic perspective of biology.

Check it out. Hope that it helps.
posted by bim at 10:17 AM on February 23, 2006

Try The Nature Of Economies by Jane Jacobs.

It's fairly good, and talks about economics from a biological/evolutionary perspective, which may be of interest.

However, the style in which it is written leaves a lot to be desired: It's a conversation between a number of characters.
posted by Freen at 11:20 AM on February 23, 2006

Evolution and the Theory of Games by John Maynard-Smith. This book took the idea of game theory and applied it to evolutionary biology. Basically it applies Nash equilibria to biology.

If you are looking for broader areas, pretty much all of evolutionary biology is based on this kind of thinking. Try reading early Richard Dawkins works, or any other popular works on evolution.
posted by scodger at 10:17 PM on February 23, 2006

Thanks, everyone! Some great leads to follow up on.
posted by jfwlucy at 4:29 AM on February 24, 2006