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Opportunism, Trust and Cooperation

Author

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  • Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin

    (Social Sciences Department at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France, cabon@grid.ensam.estp.fr)

  • Shyama V. Ramani

    (INRA-ESR, Paris, France , ramani@ivry.inra.fr)

Abstract

Even when there is a potential danger of opportunism, economic agents often initiate contracts or engage in trust. Considering a world with two types of agents, opportunists and non-opportunists, interacting under incomplete information, this article develops a simple two-stage game theoretic model to show how trust and cooperation can emerge in a one-shot interaction, even in the absence of a supporting incentive mechanism. Two classic paradigms are considered: the prisoner's dilemma and the game of chicken. In the context of the prisoner's dilemma, trust depends on the exogenous probability of having a non-opportunist partner, while in the game of chicken trust is purely a function of the payoffs. Contrary to intuition, a high ratio of non-opportunistic agents in the population does not favor contract initiation in the game of chicken and a strong presence of opportunists does not act as an impediment to respecting commitments.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Shyama V. Ramani, 2007. "Opportunism, Trust and Cooperation," Rationality and Society, , vol. 19(2), pages 203-228, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:19:y:2007:i:2:p:203-228
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463107077391
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    Cited by:

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