31 research outputs found
Beyond hypothesis-testing : using approximate bayesian computation for comparing multiple models of cultural transmission in neolithic europe
Random drift and culture change
We show that the frequency distributions of cultural variants, in three different real-world examples--first names, archaeological pottery and applications for technology patents--follow power laws that can be explained by a simple model of random drift. We conclude that cultural and economic choices often reflect a decision process that is value-neutral; this result has far-reaching testable implications for social-science researc
Specialisation and wealth inequality in a model of a clustered economic network
In this paper we present an agent-based model of specialization, exchange and inequality within a clustered social network, with implications for the economic effect that contact with colonizing groups may have had on prehistoric indigenous populations. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved