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