Returning Soldier Effect

Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

cedws•about 2 hours ago

The paragraph under subheading “Sex ratio without war” doesn’t sound right, it seems to imply more men are born as a result of higher mortality rate but doesn’t really make sense, how can mortality rate influence sex ratio at birth? In the general population sure. Or it’s just poorly written and is referring to sex ratio in the population in an article about birth rates.

didgeoridoo•about 1 hour ago

Yeah it doesn’t seem to follow that men dying earlier/more often should be causally related to a higher male birth ratio. There is no fundamental reason the sex ratio needs to be balanced. In fact it’s pretty odd that it is; in an alternate universe where females outnumbered males 2:1, you could easily tell an evolutionary just-so story around group selection and optimal resource usage.

tagfowufe•about 4 hours ago

"The returning soldier effect is an observed phenomenon where more boys are born relative to the number of girls after periods of war."

Returning Soldier Effect

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Discussion (3 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews