Michael Shermer: Skeptic Magazine

There are a number of parallels between evolution and economics that we shall explore on two tiers—historical and theoretical: the parallels between natural selection and the invisible hand; the nature of evolution and the characteristics of a free market economy; the reluctance to accept the theory of evolution and free market economics; evolution and economics as emergent properties; how evolution shaped economic behavior; and contingency in evolution and path dependency in economies. In short, natural selection and the invisible hand are analogous descriptors for analogous phenomena.