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Individual wealth-based selection supports cooperation in spatial public goods games
Xiaojie Chen1, Attila Szolnoki2
1School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
Scientific Reports
|September 7, 2016
Summary
This study introduces a wealth-based participation model for public goods games. Wealthy individuals can participate, promoting cooperation and avoiding the tragedy of the commons in structured populations.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Game Theory
- Computational Social Science
- Agent-Based Modeling
Background:
- Social dilemma games often lead to the tragedy of the commons due to defector prevalence.
- Probabilistic participation can mitigate defection but may not be sufficient in structured populations.
- Individual wealth as a factor in participation decisions remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and analyze a novel model combining probabilistic participation with wealth-based conditional investment in public goods games.
- To investigate the impact of this wealth-based criterion on cooperation dynamics in spatially structured populations.
- To compare the effectiveness of this model against purely probabilistic participation and well-mixed populations.
Main Methods:
- Development of an agent-based model incorporating a public goods game.
- Implementation of a wealth-based participation threshold: only players above a certain wealth level can invest.
- Simulation of spatially structured populations and comparison with well-mixed populations.
Main Results:
- Probabilistic participation alone offers limited improvement over well-mixed populations in structured settings.
- Introducing wealth-based participation significantly enhances network reciprocity in structured populations.
- The proposed model allows the cooperator strategy to dominate across a wider range of parameters.
Conclusions:
- Wealth-based conditional participation is a powerful mechanism for promoting cooperation in social dilemma games.
- Structured populations, when combined with wealth-based criteria, can effectively overcome the tragedy of the commons.
- This approach offers a novel perspective on fostering cooperation by integrating economic status into game-theoretic models.
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