The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation

This paper presents a multi-agent simulation of the production of step-level public goods in social networks. The design of the sequence of decisions in public goods experiments have been limited because of the necessity of simplicity taking priority over realism, which means they never accurately r...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: León Medina, Francisco José, Miguel Quesada, Francisco José, Alcaide Lozano, Vanessa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/69013
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/69013
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Béns públics
Comportament col·lectiu
Presa de decisions
Xarxes socials
Public goods
Collective behavior
Decision making
Social networks
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spelling The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulationLeón Medina, Francisco JoséMiguel Quesada, Francisco JoséAlcaide Lozano, VanessaBéns públicsComportament col·lectiuPresa de decisionsXarxes socialsPublic goodsCollective behaviorDecision makingSocial networksThis paper presents a multi-agent simulation of the production of step-level public goods in social networks. The design of the sequence of decisions in public goods experiments have been limited because of the necessity of simplicity taking priority over realism, which means they never accurately reproduce the social structure that constrains the available information. Multi-agent simulation can help us to overcome this limitation. In our simulation, agents are placed in 230 different networks and these networks' success rates are analyzed. We find that characteristics of the network -density and global degree centrality and heterogeneity-, initial parameters of the strategic situation -the provision point- and characteristics of the agents (beliefs about the probability that others will cooperate), all have a considerable impact on the success rate. Our paper outlines three main findings. (1) A less demanding collective effort level does not entail more success: the effort should neither be as high as to discourage others, nor so low as to be let to others. (2) More informed individuals do not always produce a better social outcome: a certain degree of ignorance about other agents' previous decisions and their probability of cooperating are socially useful as long as it can lead to contributions that would not have occurred otherwise. (3) Dense horizontal groups are more likely to succeed in the production of step-level public goods: social ties provide information about the relevance of each agent's individual contribution. This simulation demonstrates the explanatory power of the structural properties of a social system because agents with the same decision algorithm produce different outcomes depending on the properties of their social network.SimSoc Consortium2014info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/69013Articles publicats en revistes (Sociologia)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: 10.18564/jasss.2419Jasss-The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2014, vol. 17, num. 1, p. 1-18http://dx.doi.org/10.18564/jasss.2419(c) SimSoc Consortium, 2014info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/690132026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
title The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
spellingShingle The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
León Medina, Francisco José
Béns públics
Comportament col·lectiu
Presa de decisions
Xarxes socials
Public goods
Collective behavior
Decision making
Social networks
title_short The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
title_full The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
title_fullStr The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
title_full_unstemmed The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
title_sort The production of step-level public goods through a network: an agent-based simulation
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv León Medina, Francisco José
Miguel Quesada, Francisco José
Alcaide Lozano, Vanessa
author León Medina, Francisco José
author_facet León Medina, Francisco José
Miguel Quesada, Francisco José
Alcaide Lozano, Vanessa
author_role author
author2 Miguel Quesada, Francisco José
Alcaide Lozano, Vanessa
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Béns públics
Comportament col·lectiu
Presa de decisions
Xarxes socials
Public goods
Collective behavior
Decision making
Social networks
topic Béns públics
Comportament col·lectiu
Presa de decisions
Xarxes socials
Public goods
Collective behavior
Decision making
Social networks
description This paper presents a multi-agent simulation of the production of step-level public goods in social networks. The design of the sequence of decisions in public goods experiments have been limited because of the necessity of simplicity taking priority over realism, which means they never accurately reproduce the social structure that constrains the available information. Multi-agent simulation can help us to overcome this limitation. In our simulation, agents are placed in 230 different networks and these networks' success rates are analyzed. We find that characteristics of the network -density and global degree centrality and heterogeneity-, initial parameters of the strategic situation -the provision point- and characteristics of the agents (beliefs about the probability that others will cooperate), all have a considerable impact on the success rate. Our paper outlines three main findings. (1) A less demanding collective effort level does not entail more success: the effort should neither be as high as to discourage others, nor so low as to be let to others. (2) More informed individuals do not always produce a better social outcome: a certain degree of ignorance about other agents' previous decisions and their probability of cooperating are socially useful as long as it can lead to contributions that would not have occurred otherwise. (3) Dense horizontal groups are more likely to succeed in the production of step-level public goods: social ties provide information about the relevance of each agent's individual contribution. This simulation demonstrates the explanatory power of the structural properties of a social system because agents with the same decision algorithm produce different outcomes depending on the properties of their social network.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2014
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/69013
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/69013
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: 10.18564/jasss.2419
Jasss-The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2014, vol. 17, num. 1, p. 1-18
http://dx.doi.org/10.18564/jasss.2419
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv (c) SimSoc Consortium, 2014
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv (c) SimSoc Consortium, 2014
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv SimSoc Consortium
publisher.none.fl_str_mv SimSoc Consortium
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Sociologia)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.300719

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