A Malthusian model of hybridization in human evolution.
Early modern humans interbred with archaic humans. We explore this phenomenon through an economic lens to reveal what shaped the origins of our species. In a Malthusian growth model with initial non-hybrid humans, we derive population dynamics and the conditions for hybrid humans to emerge and survi...
| Published in: | Oxford Economic Papers Vol. 78; no. 2; pp. 373 - 388 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Apr2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=194211911&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194211911 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00307653 OXE jtl: Oxford Economic Papers issn: 00307653 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 78 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 194211911 10.1093/oep/gpaf035 ppf: 373 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: A Malthusian model of hybridization in human evolution. aug: au: Chu, Angus C affil: Department of Economics, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China su: Population dynamics Prehistoric peoples Human beings Inbreeding Human evolution Neanderthals Species hybridization sug: subj: Population dynamics Prehistoric peoples Human beings Inbreeding Human evolution Neanderthals Species hybridization keyword: ancient human interbreeding copyrightHolder:Oxford University Press copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en Malthusian model N10 natural selection O13 publisher:Oxford University Press Q56 sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaf035 ancient human interbreeding copyrightHolder:Oxford University Press copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en Malthusian model N10 natural selection O13 publisher:Oxford University Press Q56 sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpaf035 ab: Early modern humans interbred with archaic humans. We explore this phenomenon through an economic lens to reveal what shaped the origins of our species. In a Malthusian growth model with initial non-hybrid humans, we derive population dynamics and the conditions for hybrid humans to emerge and survive, which explains why modern humans still carry DNA from archaic humans. It is possible for a higher hybridization rate to reduce long-run population size and raise long-run output per capita. A sufficiently high hybridization rate causes only hybrid humans to survive. This result captures the probable scenario that all modern humans are hybrid descendants of archaic and early modern humans and provides the following novel insight: modern humans, which emerged from interbreeding, caused the extinction of archaic and early modern humans. Finally, our analysis also shows that the low proportion of Neanderthal-derived DNA in modern humans is due to their relatively early extinction. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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