Coordination, Differentiation and Fairness in a Population of Cooperating Agents

In a recent paper, we analyzed the self-assembly of a complex cooperation network. The network was shown to approach a state where every agent invests the same amount of resources. Nevertheless, highly-connected agents arise that extract extraordinarily high payoffs while contributing comparably lit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thilo Gross, Lars Rudolf, Anne-Ly Do
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2012-03-01
Series:Games
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/3/1/30/
Description
Summary:In a recent paper, we analyzed the self-assembly of a complex cooperation network. The network was shown to approach a state where every agent invests the same amount of resources. Nevertheless, highly-connected agents arise that extract extraordinarily high payoffs while contributing comparably little to any of their cooperations. Here, we investigate a variant of the model, in which highly-connected agents have access to additional resources. We study analytically and numerically whether these resources are invested in existing collaborations, leading to a fairer load distribution, or in establishing new collaborations, leading to an even less fair distribution of loads and payoffs.
ISSN:2073-4336