Seminar in PSA 107

ABSTRACT

Title:  Subsistence constraints and institutional adaptation in a simple population/resource society, a dynamical systems perspective.

By:    "John M. Anderies" <and428@asu.edu>, Biology, ASU

Abstract: Interest in the "collapse" of the Polynesian society on Easter Island has been rekindled by recent work by Brander and Taylor who used a simple bioeconomic model of resource use and population growth to explain the dynamics of the collapse. The interesting question that emerges from this work is why there was no institutional adaptation to prevent this collapse. In this talk I will present a dynamical systems model of a simple population-resource society and use numerical bifurcation techniques to address this question. The model is based on an extension of the Brander and Taylor model that includes a more plausible representation of individual preferences and the potential for institutional adaptation. The interaction between individual preferences and institutional adaptation will be explored.