The survival of the conformist: social pressure and renewable resource management.
Publication Year
2012
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper examines the role of other-regarding behavior as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of cooperation in resource use under variable social and environmental conditions. By coupling resource stock dynamics with social dynamics concerning compliance to a social norm prescribing non-excessive resource extraction in a common pool resource, we show that when reputational considerations matter and a sufficient level of social stigma affects the violators of a norm, sustainable outcomes are achieved. We find large parameter regions where norm-observing and norm-violating types coexist, and analyze to what extent such coexistence depends on the environment.
Journal
Journal of theoretical biology
Volume
299
Pages
152-61
Date Published
04/2012
ISSN Number
1095-8541
Alternate Journal
J Theor Biol
PMID
21810428