Hamilton’s rule in economic decision-making
Name
pnas.2108590119.pdf
Description
Published version
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645.23 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
57e5603db5c1560f81993d2a861ca5ba
Author(s)
Levy, Moshe
Lo, Andrew W
Date Issued
April 19, 2022
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Levy, Moshe and Lo, Andrew W. 2022. "Hamilton’s rule in economic decision-making." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (16).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Kin selection—helping genetically related individuals even at a cost to oneself—can be evolutionarily advantageous. This is the main theoretical explanation for altruism in the natural world. Hamilton’s rule provides a simple algebraic relationship that captures this profound idea. While behavior consistent with Hamilton’s rule has been observed in many species, a direct and sharp test of this rule has not yet been performed. In this paper, we employ techniques borrowed from experimental economics to test the predictions of Hamilton’s rule. We find strong support for the rule. This result sheds light on the dominant role played by evolutionary biology in explaining human behavior.
Kin selection—helping genetically related individuals even at a cost to oneself—can be evolutionarily advantageous. This is the main theoretical explanation for altruism in the natural world. Hamilton’s rule provides a simple algebraic relationship that captures this profound idea. While behavior consistent with Hamilton’s rule has been observed in many species, a direct and sharp test of this rule has not yet been performed. In this paper, we employ techniques borrowed from experimental economics to test the predictions of Hamilton’s rule. We find strong support for the rule. This result sheds light on the dominant role played by evolutionary biology in explaining human behavior.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2108590119
