Alberto Bisin of New York University reviews “Modeling Social Behavior: Mathematical and Agent-Based Models of Social Dynamics and Cultural Evolution” by Paul E. Smaldino. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores ways of thinking about and studying complex social systems using mathematical and computational models, focusing on relatively simple dynamic models to aid in the study of social organisms and what they do together.”

Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve is a large-scale history of the world through the different modes of production humanity has adopted over time and their implications in terms of moral values. Morris argues that the predominant value systems of human societies are cultural adaptations to the organizational structures of the societies themselves, their institutions, and ultimately to their modes of production. In particular, the book contains a careful analysis of how the hunting–gathering mode of production induces egalitarian values and relatively favorable attitudes toward violent resolution of conflicts, while farming induces hierarchical values and less favorable attitudes toward violence, and in turn the fossil fuel (that is, industrial) mode of production induces egalitarian values and nonviolent attitudes. The narrative in the book is rich, diverse, and ultimately entertaining. Morris's analysis is very knowledgeable and informative: arguments and evidence are rooted in history, anthropology, archeology, and social sciences in general. Nonetheless, the analysis falls short of being convincing about the causal nature of the existing relationship between modes of production and moral value systems.

Invariably, across a cross-section of countries and time periods, wealth distributions are skewed to the right displaying thick upper tails, that is, large and slowly declining top wealth shares. In this survey, we categorize the theoretical studies on the distribution of wealth in terms of the underlying economic mechanisms generating skewness and thick tails. Further, we show how these mechanisms can be micro-founded by the consumption–savings decisions of rational agents in specific economic and demographic environments. Finally we map the large empirical work on the wealth distribution to its theoretical underpinnings.