Public Goods Game and Network Structures

Many studies have explored human cooperation in the context of Public Goods Games (PGG) since 1980s. PGG provide an excellent opportunity to study the often contrasting goals of cooperative and self-serving behavior. In spite of the long tradition of research on public goods games, and the recent prominence of re-search on social networks, very few studies have explicitly examined the influence that social network structure can have on cooperation in Public Goods Games. In our analyses, we explore the effects of two types of network structure: artificial network structure of information, and real friendship networks. In addition to ex-ploring the role of each, we begin to identify the contrasting roles that each type of network may play in explaining individual behavior in the context of economic games. In doing so, we draw on research from sociology, economic game theory, and physics. While this report offers only preliminary findings, we believe that this area of research is likely to be a fertile area for future exploration.