Friday, March 25, 2005

Did Free Trade Cause Neanderthal Extinction?

Economics-free trade may have contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals 30,000-40,000 years ago, according to a paper published in the “Journal of Economic Organization and Behavior.” “After at least 200,000 years of eking out an existence in glacial Eurasia, the Neanderthal suddenly went extinct,” writes University of Wyoming economist Jason Shogren, along with colleagues Richard Horan of Michigan State University and Erwin Bulte from Tilburg University in the Netherlands. “Early modern humans arriving on the scene shortly before are suspected to have been the perpetrator, but exactly how they caused Neanderthal extinction is unknown.” Creating a new kind of caveman economics in their published paper, they argue early modern humans were first to exploit the competitive edge gained from specialization and free trade. With more reliance on free trade, humans increased their activities in culture and technology, while simultaneously out-competing Neanderthals on their joint hunting grounds, the economists say.

3 Comments:

At March 25, 2005 11:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I"m not sure the Neandenthaler is extinct, maybe it simply kept on living and blending in and mixing with modern man.

 
At March 26, 2005 5:18 AM, Blogger Tom said...

Score one for the harmony of reality!

 
At March 26, 2005 11:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was my impressin that modern man and Neandrathals intermingled. Apperatnly thats where red hair comes from

 

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