Cooperation, Conflict, and Power in the Absence of Property Rights

Stergios Skaperdas

American Economic Review, 1992, vol. 82, issue 4, 720-39

Abstract: This paper examines interaction in the absence of property rights when agents face a trade-off between productive and coercive activities. In this setting, conflict is not the necessary outcome of one-time interaction and cooperation is consistent with domination of one agent over another. Other things being equal, an agent's power, a well-defined concept in this paper, is inversely related to an agent's resources when resources are valued according to marginal-productivity theory. Some implications for the evolution of property rights are drawn. The model is applicable to a variety of situations in which directly unproductive activities are prevalent. Copyright 1992 by American Economic Association.

Date: 1992
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Working Paper: COOPERATION, CONFLICT AND POWER IN THE ABSENCE OF PROPERTY RIGHTS (1991)
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