AbstractEvolutionists and economists employ similar methods of optimization and resource allocation to describe and predict natural and social phenomena. In this paper, entropy production is postulated as the maximand in biological processes and analogs are derived in evolutionary theory to the Stolper—Samuelson theorem, Rybczynski theorem, and Jones Magnification Effect of economic theory. The proposed thermodynamic model of evolution explains diversity, extinction, the five agents of microevolution, Gause's Competitive Exclusionary Principle, gradualism, increasing biological complexity, the Law of Extinction, Lotka's Principle, the Minimum Dissipation Principle, neutralism, punctuated equilibrium, r‐k selection, and sex in terms of free energy allocation to increase entropy production. Preliminary hypotheses are generated and the model is compared to its alternatives. Finally, implications for exobiology and a synthetic theory of natural and social phenomena are discussed.