This paper generalizes the discrete cultural transmission model proposed by Bisin and Verdier (2001) to continuous trait space. The resulting cultural evolutionary dynamic can be characterized by a continuous imitative dynamic in a population game in which a player's payoff is equal to the...

This paper examines the recent rise of institutional investment in the single-family home rental market and its implications for renters' welfare. Using institutional mergers to identify local exogenous variation in institutional landlords' scale and market share, we show that rent increased in...

We examine preference evolution under different marriage market arrangements, when preferences are influenced by own choices and parents' preferences. The dynamical system exhibits pitchfork bifurcation as the degree of sorting varies: Multiple stable equilibria arise under sufficiently random...

This paper proposes a cultural evolutionary model in which the assortativity level of matching is endogenously determined. We consider a population consisting of two cultural groups. Each group has a leader who can actively exert effort to enhance social connections among group members. Social...

This paper argues that political institutions play an important role in shaping the evolutionary trajectory of preferences. We consider a population with two preference groups. A political institution provides the platform and a set of rules for the two groups to battle over the relative...

This paper experimentally examines why communication may matter for inducing cooperation in strategic interactions involving intermediaries. We consider a three-player centipede game in which the first and the third players do not interact sequentially, but only through the second player. We...

Methoxychlor (MXC) is an organopesticide classified as a “Proposed Persistent Organic Pollutant” in the Stockholm Convention, and recent studies revealed that MXC could induce DNA strand breaks, whereas its underlying mechanisms were underinvestigated. Here, we first reported that...

We present a model that investigates preference evolution with endogenous matching. In the short run, individuals’ subjective preferences simultaneously determine who they are matched with and how they behave in the social interactions with their matched partners, which results in material...