Evidence for ecological learning and domain specificity in rational asset pricing and market efficiency

• Reviews ecological learning and domain specificity in rational and efficient pricing.
• Both may fit features of recurrent change in complex adaptive systems.
• Statistical mechanics, game theory and information theory are central.
• The reviewed literature is integrative and can extend theory in behavioral finance.
• The article underlines the importance of an interdisciplinary effort.

This article is interested in how efficiently individuals can use available information, and if this will translate into efficient outcomes at the market level. Our use of available information in markets is further specified by evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology, which extend core theory and evidence in behavioral finance throughout the reviewed literature. The survey of the social, biological and physical literature is integrative, and demonstrates how evolved design at the individual level can interact with a market environment that evolves as a complex adaptive system. In general, the analysis also highlights the central importance of complex systems in the study of rational and efficient markets.