Second-order free-riding problem solved?

James H. Fowler ()
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James H. Fowler: University of California at Davis

Nature, 2005, vol. 437, issue 7058, E8-E8

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04201

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