Internal selection and market selection in economic Genetic Algorithms

Genetic algorithms have been established as an alternative to neoclassical optimization for the illustration of economic agents’ behavior. Critics however, doubt they depict the particularities of social evolution, because they fail to describe intentional behavior. The current paper argues that advocates as well as critics of the procedure have overlooked the crucial necessity to distinguish between internal and external selection in the economy and to include both in economic Genetic Algorithms. The paper claims that such a differentiation will allow the model to depict intentional decisions as well as market selection and help to understand the effects of bounded rationality. It illustrates this point with a brief example modeled after the new-versus-new competition between lean-burn engines and catalysts in the 70th.