The Evolution of Human Life Expectancy and Intelligence in Hunter-Gatherer Economies

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2003
Volume: 93
Issue: 1
Pages: 150-169

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The economics of hunting and gathering must have driven the biological evolution of human characteristics, since hunter-gatherer societies prevailed for the two million years of human history. These societies feature huge intergenerational resource flows, suggesting that these resource flows should replace fertility as the key demographic consideration. It is then theoretically expected that life expectancy and brain size would increase simultaneously, as apparently occurred during our evolutionary history. The brain here is considered as a direct form of bodily investment, but also crucially as facilitating further indirect investment by means of learning-by-doing.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:93:y:2003:i:1:p:150-169
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25