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The problem with the Price equation.

Matthijs van Veelen1

  • 1Department of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15867, 1001 NJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|March 10, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The Price equation, while general, offers meaningless terms in complex models without fitness function assumptions. Its broad application in social evolution, particularly group selection, has led to misinterpretations due to these restrictive assumptions.

Keywords:
Price equationgroup selectionmodel specificationregression coefficients

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Mathematical modeling
  • Social evolution

Background:

  • The Price equation is a fundamental tool in evolutionary biology for describing change in biological systems.
  • Its generality allows application across diverse models, but interpretation can be challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate the interpretability of terms within the Price equation.
  • To demonstrate how the equation's generality can lead to meaningless components in certain models.
  • To highlight the negative impact of misinterpreting the Price equation in social evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of the Price equation's mathematical structure.
  • Comparison with simple linear models where terms are interpretable.
  • Examination of models lacking assumptions on fitness function shape.

Main Results:

  • Regression coefficients in the Price equation lack meaningful interpretation in general models without fitness function assumptions.
  • Simple linear models exhibit interpretable terms when formulated in a Price equation-like form.
  • Misapplication of the Price equation to group selection illustrates its problematic interpretation.

Conclusions:

  • The Price equation's meaningfulness is contingent on restrictive assumptions, not inherent generality.
  • Failure to acknowledge these limitations has caused significant damage to the field of social evolution.
  • A re-evaluation of the Price equation's application is necessary, especially in complex scenarios like group selection.