SEAL News: April 20, 2008 – Experimental work driven entirely by evolutionary analysis in law
Dear S.E.A.L. Members:
This e-mail brings news of what, to our knowledge, is the first experimental work driven entirely by evolutionary analysis in law. More specifically, the line of work explores the extent to which evolutionary perspectives may enable a better understanding of the law-relevant and psychological phenomenon known as the “endowment effect.” Links to the three articles in this arc of work appear below.
The experimental work first takes up the time-shifted rationality perspective I proposed in a 2001 article, which described (among other
things) a possible evolutionary foundation for the endowment effect. Jones, Owen D., “Time-Shifted Rationality and the Law of Law’s Leverage: Behavioral Economics Meets Behavioral Biology,” 95 Northwestern University Law Review (2001), Vol. 95, 2001 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=249419.
Next, SEAL member Sarah Brosnan and colleagues and I collaborated to test specific predictions of the time-shifted rationality perspective on the endowment effect. Using an exchange-of-objects paradigm (modified from Knetsch), we discovered the endowment effect in chimpanzees (as predicted) and, more significantly, we found variations in the prevalence of the effect that were also consistent with our predictions. To our knowledge, our set of specific predictions arise from no other known theory. The results of the chimpanzee experiment were published in October in the biology journal “Current Biology,” available here: Brosnan, Sarah F. , Jones, Owen D., et al., “Endowment Effects in Chimpanzees”, 17 Current Biology 1704 (October 2007). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1117970 .
Subsequently, Brosnan and I provided an overview (including discussion of the history, details, and implications of this theoretical and empirical work) in this article, forthcoming this summer: Jones, Owen D. and Brosnan, Sarah F. “Law, Biology, and Property: A New Theory of the Endowment Effect” (2008). 49 William & Mary Law Review. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1116963.
We thought that SEAL members may be interested in the experimental results, which we believe help illustrate the potential utility of evolutionary analysis in law. Because we are continuing research in this area, comments are of course welcome, should you have both time and inclination.
Best regards,
Owen
Director, SEAL
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