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Harsh environments and the evolution of multi-player cooperation

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  • De Jaegher, Kris

Abstract

The game-theoretic model in this paper provides micro-foundations for the effect a harsher environment on the probability of cooperation among multiple players. The harshness of the environment is alternatively measured by the degree of complementarity between the players’ cooperative efforts in producing a public good, and by the number of attacks on an existing public good that the players can collectively defend, where it is shown that these two measures of the degree of adversity facing the players operate in a similar fashion. We show that the effect of the degree of adversity on the probability of cooperation is monotonous, and has an opposite sign for smaller and for larger cooperation costs. For intermediate cooperation costs, we show that the effect of a harsher environment on the probability of cooperation is hill-shaped.

Suggested Citation

  • De Jaegher, Kris, 2017. "Harsh environments and the evolution of multi-player cooperation," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-12.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:113:y:2017:i:c:p:1-12
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2016.09.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kris De Jaegher & Britta Hoyer, 2016. "Collective action and the common enemy effect," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 644-664, September.
    2. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    3. Chaitanya Gokhale & Arne Traulsen, 2014. "Evolutionary Multiplayer Games," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 468-488, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nöldeke, Georg & Peña, Jorge, 2018. "Group size effects in social evolution," IAST Working Papers 18-75, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
    2. Shun Kurokawa & Joe Yuichiro Wakano & Yasuo Ihara, 2018. "Evolution of Groupwise Cooperation: Generosity, Paradoxical Behavior, and Non-Linear Payoff Functions," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Jorge Peña & Georg Nöldeke, 2023. "Cooperative Dilemmas with Binary Actions and Multiple Players," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 1156-1193, December.
    4. Mathews, Timothy & Paul, Jomon A., 2022. "Natural disasters and their impact on cooperation against a common enemy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 303(3), pages 1417-1428.
    5. Wakeley, John & Nowak, Martin, 2019. "A two-player iterated survival game," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 38-55.

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