An economic analysis of altruism: who benefits from altruistic acts?

Would society be better off, in aggregate economic terms, if altruism was more widely practiced among its members? Here I try to answer this question using an agent based computer simulation model of a simple agricultural society. A Monte Carlo exploration of the parameter landscapes allowed the exploration of the range of possible situations of conflict between the individual and the group. The possible benefit of altruism on the aggregate wealth of society was assessed by comparing the overall efficiency of the system in accumulating aggregate utility in simulations with altruistic agents, and with equivalent systems where no altruistic acts were allowed. The results show that no simple situation could be found where altruistic behavior was beneficial to the group. Dissipative and equitative altruistic behavior was detrimental to the aggregate wealth of the group or was neutral. However, the modeling of non-economic factors or the inclusion of a synergic effect in the mutualistic interactions did increase the aggregated utility achieved by the virtual society.