Atkinson Memorial Lecture 2022 - Ingela Alger (Toulouse School of Economics and Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse)

Where: Manor Road Building Lecture Theatre, Oxford (and online)

When: 13 June 2022, 3.30-5pm

The Atkinson Memorial Lecture is an annual distinguished lecture series established in 2018 in memory of Professor Sir Tony Atkinson, jointly by the Global Priorities Institute (GPI) and the Department of Economics. The aim is to encourage research among academic economists on topics related to global prioritisation - using evidence and reason to figure out the most effective ways to improve the world. This year we are delighted to have Ingela Alger, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, deliver the Atkinson Memorial Lecture. The Atkinson Memorial lecture is organised in conjunction with the Parfit Memorial Lecture.

A recording of the lecture is now available to view here.

Evolutionary foundations of morality and altruism — recent advances

Abstract

“Survival of the fittest” is often taken to imply that human life must be the Hobbesian “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” However, recent theoretical analyses of the evolution of preferences guiding behaviors of individuals show, on the contrary, that natural selection promotes a particular form of preferences, which may be interpreted as implying both a Kantian moral concern and an other-regarding concern. The talk will provide an account of the ultimate forces behind this result, and discuss implications of the said preferences.

About the speaker

Ingela Alger is CNRS Senior Researcher in Economics at Toulouse School of Economics, and a CEPR Research Fellow. She is also Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST). Her research, which has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Review and Econometrica, focuses on the long run formation of human preferences (motivation), when these are transmitted from generation to generation, and are subject to selection. She is particularly interested in preferences that might explain moral and altruistic behaviors, as well as behaviors within the family. She also organizes seminars and conferences at the intersection between economics and biology. More information at https://ingelaalger.weebly.com/.

All in-person attendees are invited to a drinks reception at the Economics Department following the Atkinson Memorial Lecture. If you would like to attend the Lecture Dinner or are interested in having a meeting with Ingela, please email: [email protected].

Selected Publications

  • On the evolution of male competitiveness. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization Vol. 190, 2021, 228-254.
  • Evolution of preferences in group-structured populations: genes, guns, and culture. Journal of Economic Theory Vol.185, 2020, 104951. With Jörgen W. Weibull and Laurent Lehmann.
  • Morality: evolutionary foundations and economic implications. in Basu, K., D. Rosenblatt, and C. Sepulveda, eds., 2020, The State of Economics, the State of the World, Cambridge: MIT Press. With Jörgen W. Weibull.
  • Evolutionary models of preference formation. Annual Review of Economics Vol.11, 2019, 329-354. With Jörgen W. Weibull.
  • Strategic behavior of moralists and altruists. Games Vol. 8(3), 38, 2017. With Jörgen W. Weibull.
  • Evolution and Kantian morality. Games and Economic Behavior Vol. 98, 2016, 56-67. With Jörgen W. Weibull.
  • Homo moralis — preference evolution under incomplete information and assortative matching. Econometrica Vol. 81, 2013, 2269-2302. With Jörgen W. Weibull.
  • Kinship, incentives and evolution. American Economic Review Vol. 100, 2010, 1725-1758. With Jörgen W. Weibull.

Full list available here.