Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/31843 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 0706
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
This paper shows how sustainable consumption patterns can spread within a population via processes of social learning even though a strong individual learning bias may favor environmentally harmful products. We present a model depicting how the biased transmission of different behaviors via individual and social learning influences agents' consumption behavior. The underlying learning biases can be traced back to evolved cognitive dispositions. Challenging the vision of a permanent transition toward sustainability, we argue that "green" consumption patterns are not self-reinforcing and cannot be locked in permanently.
Subjects: 
Consumer Behavior
Cultural Evolution
Learning
Sustainability
Evolutionary Economics
JEL: 
D11
D83
Q01
C61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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