Nash Equilibrium and the Evolution of Preferences

A population of players is randomly matched to play a normal form game G. The payo®s in this game represent the ̄tness associated with the various outcomes. Each individual has preferences over the outcomes of the game and chooses an optimal action with respect to those preferences. However, these preferences need not coincide with the ̄tness payo®s. When evolution selects individuals on the basis of the ̄tness of the actions they take, the distribution of aggregate play must be a Nash equilibrium of G. Weak additional assumptions on the evolutionary process imply perfect equilibrium. Journal of Economic Literature Classi ̄cation Number C72