Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:34:45.593Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Life History Theory and economic modernity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2019

Martin Hewson*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A0, Canada. [email protected]

Abstract

Baumard's new explanation of the Industrial Revolution shows that Life History Theory holds great potential. Here, I suggest two related hypotheses for examination. One is that there are long-term roots of slow life traits and preferences. The other is that Life History Theory can explain other aspects of economic modernity such as the Scientific Revolution and bureaucratic states. If so, then Life History Theory offers a way to reconcile several bodies of evidence and lines of explanation into a coherent general account of economic modernity.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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

Crafts, N. F. (1977) Industrial revolution in England and France: Some thoughts on the question, “why was England first?” The Economic History Review 30:429–41.Google Scholar
Galor, O. & Özak, Ö. (2016) The agricultural origins of time preference. American Economic Review 106:3064–103.Google Scholar
Schulz, J., Bahrami-Rad, D., Beauchamp, J., and Henrich, J. (2018) The origins of WEIRD psychology (June 22, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3201031 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3201031.Google Scholar