Evolution and sub-optimal behaviour

The apparently sub-optimal behaviour of economic agents in games against na ture can be seen as a natural outcome of evolutionary processes. This paper extends previous work on the evolutionary stability of sub-optimal adaptat ions by examining how stability is affected by the introduction of multiple traits and assortative mating. It is shown that increasing the number of t raits tends to increase the scope for stable second best adaptations whilst assortative mating reduces it. Various economic applications are discussed .