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Human cooperation

Second-order free-riding problem solved?

Nature volume 437, page E8 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Arising from: K. Panchanathan & R. Boyd Nature 432, 499–502 (2004); K. Panchanathan & R. Boyd reply

Panchanathan and Boyd1 describe a model of indirect reciprocity in which mutual aid among cooperators can promote large-scale human cooperation without succumbing to a second-order free-riding problem2 (whereby individuals receive but do not give aid). However, the model does not include second-order free riders as one of the possible behavioural types. Here I present a simplified version of their model to demonstrate how cooperation unravels if second-round defectors enter the population, and this shows that the free-riding problem remains unsolved.

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References

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  1. Department of Political Science, University of California at Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    James H. Fowler

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  1. James H. Fowler
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Fowler, J. Second-order free-riding problem solved?. Nature 437, E8 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04201

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