Macroevolutionary Origins of Comparative Development.

This article examines the economic consequences of Homo sapiens' dispersal from Africa through the lens of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), which emphasizes organisms' active modification of environments (niche construction) as a fundamental evolutionary process. It presents empirical evidence that the Late Quaternary Extinction (LQE) of large mammals, triggered by human dispersal and varying by region due to differing histories of human–fauna co-evolution, influenced the development of domestication, agriculture, institutions, disease environments, and ultimately long-run economic performance. Eurasia's intermediate extinction rates and prolonged co-evolutionary interactions provided optimal conditions for domestication and the emergence of polycentric institutions, fostering technological and institutional advantages that contributed to its comparative economic development. The paper challenges genetic-centric explanations of economic divergence by highlighting ecological and evolutionary processes as primary drivers and proposes a framework integrating evolutionary biology, anthropology, and economics to understand deep determinants of development.