Economics and biology Economics and Biology is a collection of key essays on the relationship between economics and biology. As the limitations of the mechanistic metaphor in economics are increasingly recognized this volume explores the potential for the use of evolutionary and other ideas from the science of biology. Topics covered include evaluations of mechanistic and biological analogies in economics in the Darwinian revolution the use of biology in Alfred Marshalls economics the concepts of optimisation and rationality in an evolutionary context and the inspirations that biology may offer for modern economics.