How do institutions enable large-scale cooperation? 🤝
Institutions promote cooperation but depend on cooperation to function. In a new study in @pnas.org,
@jbaptistandre.bsky.social, N. Baumard, @lfitouchi.bsky.social and I explore this paradox. 🧵
👉 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2408802121
Institutions promote cooperation but depend on cooperation to function. In a new study in @pnas.org,
@jbaptistandre.bsky.social, N. Baumard, @lfitouchi.bsky.social and I explore this paradox. 🧵
👉 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2408802121
Comments
1️⃣ The first can't be solved by reputation alone, due to high costs or limited observability.
2️⃣ The second is an institutional action, where members contribute to create incentives for the first dilemma.
Reputation motivates contributions to institutions, which, in turn, generate stronger incentives to solve the harder dilemma.
Institutions are among humanity’s greatest inventions. They explain why we cooperate with strangers—across bands 🏕️, towns 🏘️, and entire countries 🌎.