Animal spirits: the natural geography of economic behavior

Event Date: 27 November 2019

Speaker: Toman Barsbai, University of St Andrews

Time: 4.15pm

Location: Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral Wing CW408

Abstract:.  We use insights from behavioral ecology and propose the behavior of wild animals as an exogenous measure of the behavioral constraints of geography. We construct a global grid-cell database of average animal behavior and analyze the spatial correlation between animal and human behavior in three important economic domains: future orientation, geographic mobility, and gender roles. Animal behavior significantly predicts human behavior in all three domains. The spatial correlation holds for hunter-gatherer and modern societies (across and within countries) and also extends to second-generation immigrants. Our results suggest that geography has persistently shaped human behavior with implications for comparative economic development.

Published: 13 November 2019