Denial and Alarmism in Collective Action Problems

Inequality in Collective Action Problems

Larger groups may alleviate collective action problems

This paper shows how larger group size can enhance punishing behavior in social dilemmas and hence support higher levels of cooperation. We focus on describing con‡ict technology using Lanchester’s equations and study the role of “collectivity”of punishment to support cooperation in large groups. The main results suggest that as long as defectors are, even slightly, less “collective”than punish...

How chimpanzees solve collective action problems.

We presented small groups of chimpanzees with two collective action situations, in which action was necessary for reward but there was a disincentive for individuals to act owing to the possibility of free-riding on the efforts of others. We found that in simpler scenarios (experiment 1) in which group size was small, there was a positive relationship between rank and action with more dominant ...

Leadership solves collective action problems in small-scale societies.

Observation of leadership in small-scale societies offers unique insights into the evolution of human collective action and the origins of sociopolitical complexity. Using behavioural data from the Tsimane forager-horticulturalists of Bolivia and Nyangatom nomadic pastoralists of Ethiopia, we evaluate the traits of leaders and the contexts in which leadership becomes more institutional. We find...

relationship between social capital and collective action in rural areas

objectives: this paper investigates the relationship between social capital and collective action in some rural areas of fars province and at the same time study determining factors affecting the social capital formation. method: this research was carried out with survey method in the 12 villages of fars province and selected a sample of 509 head of households. findings: among indicators of soc...