HistoryAsEvolution

HISTORY AS EVOLUTION Nathan Nunn Working Paper 27706 http://www.nber.org/papers/w27706

• culture as the knowledge, technology, values, beliefs, and norms that can be transmitted across generations and between individuals
• Implicit in this definition is that our culture influences the decisions we make and therefore affects human behavior.
• The existence of culture goes againast the fundamental economic assumption of rational agent.
• Culture exists b/c humans have cognitive limits.
• There are two primary benefits that culture provides over rationality.
  • First, culture-based decision-making provides a quick and easy way to make decisions.
  • The second benefit is that relying on culture allows for cumulative learning