Collective‐action problems pervade all societies as well as ecological systems used by
humans. Substantial evidence has accrued during the last several decades that human …

The ability to cooperate in collective action problems–such as those relating to the use of
common property resources or the provision of local public goods–is a key determinant of …

Experimental research has enhanced the knowledge acquired from theoretical and field
sources of when and how groups can solve the problem of collective action through self …

Humans, like all social species, face various collective action problems (difficulties achieving
potential benefits from cooperating when coordination is required or individuals have …

Advances in the social sciences have emerged through a variety of research methods: field-
based research, laboratory and field experiments, and agent-based models. However …

This article discusses collective action theory and focuses on three broad tropics. It first
examines the growing and extensive theoretical literature that posits a host of structural …

Several theories have emerged to explain how group cooperation (collective action) can
arise and be maintained in the face of incentives to engage in free riding. Explanations …

A scientists at least since the work of Thomas Hobbes (1960 [1651]): How do communities of
individuals sustain agreements that counteract individual temptations to select short-term …

To find conditions under which humans cooperate within groups of unrelated individuals has
been of major interest in the behavioral sciences. The experimental paradigm for studying …

In this book, prominent authors from disciplines as diverse as biology, philosophy, and the
social sciences have assembled to consider the nature of cooperation and prosocial …