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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
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The Collective Trust Game: An Online Group Adaptation of the Trust Game Based on the HoneyComb Paradigm
Published on: October 20, 2022
Discontinuous wealth-gradient transition driving cooperation
Hyun Gyu Lee1,2, Hyeong-Chai Jeong1,2, Deok-Sun Lee2,3
1Sejong University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul 05006, Korea.
Physical Review. E
|July 24, 2026
Summary
Cooperation can dominate in evolutionary games when payoffs depend on accumulated wealth. This wealth scaling mechanism, even with high cooperation costs, promotes cooperative strategies, especially at higher temperatures.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary game theory
- Computational social science
- Agent-based modeling
Background:
- Cooperation is widespread but theoretically challenging to explain due to the prevalence of defection.
- Existing models often overlook the impact of accumulated wealth and past interactions on strategic payoffs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a novel game-theoretic model incorporating wealth dynamics in a structured population.
- To explore how wealth accumulation influences the evolution of cooperation under varying conditions.
Main Methods:
- A game-theoretic model on a lattice-structured population was developed.
- Interaction payoffs were scaled by the minimum of participants' accumulated wealth.
- The model analyzed the effects of cooperation costs, wealth gradients, and temperature (noise).
Main Results:
- Wealth scaling enables cooperators to achieve higher payoffs than defectors, even at high cooperation costs.
- A discontinuous transition in the wealth gradient at the cooperator-defector boundary was observed in one dimension.
- Cooperation dominance is promoted by the explosive buildup of the wealth gradient below a critical ratio.
- Higher temperatures (increased noise) surprisingly enhance the promotion of cooperation.
Conclusions:
- Accumulated wealth is a crucial factor in promoting cooperation in evolutionary games.
- The model demonstrates a novel mechanism for the emergence and stability of cooperation.
- Fluctuations, often seen as disruptive, can constructively facilitate cooperation in this wealth-dependent framework.
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