Managing the commons: a simple model of the emergence of institutions through collective action

Amineh Ghorbani; Giangiacomo Bravo

doi:10.18352/ijc.606

Abstract

In this paper we present an abstract replication of institutional emergence patterns observed in common pool resource (CPR) problems. We used the ADICO grammar of institutions as the basic structure to model both agents’ strategies and institutions. Through an evolutionary process, agents modify their behaviours and eventually establish a management institution for their CPR system, leading to significant benefits both for them and for the commons as a whole. We showed that, even if our model has a high level of abstraction, by taking an evolutionary perspective and using the ADICO structure we are able to observe common institutional patterns. We confirmed that, even within this simplified environment, institutions significantly contributed to the sustainable management of common-pool resource systems.

References

Anderies J. M Janssen M. A Sustaining the Commons 2013 Tempe, AZ Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, Arizona State University

Back to article
Axtell R Why Agents?: On the Varied Motivations for Agent Computing in the Social Sciences. Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, Working Paper No. 17 2000 www.brookings.edu/es/dynamics/papers/agents/agents.pdf

Back to article
Balbi S Giupponi C Reviewing Agent-Based Modelling of Socio-Ecosystems: A Methodology for the Analysis of Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability University Ca’Foscari of Venice, Dept. of Economics Research Paper Series (15_09) 2009

Back to article
Bonabeau E Agent-Based Modeling: Methods and Techniques for Simulating Human Systems Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2002 99 suppl 3 7280 7287

Back to article
Bravo G Agents’ Beliefs and the Evolution of Institutions for Common-Pool Resource Management Rationality and Society 2011 23 1 117 152

Back to article
Bravo G Squazzoni F Boero R Trust and Partner Selection in Social Networks: An Experimentally Grounded Model Social Networks 2012 34 4 481 492

Back to article
Crawford S. E Ostrom E A Grammar of Institutions American Political Science Review 1995 89 582 600

Back to article
Deadman P Schlager E Gimblett R Simulating Common Pool Resource Management Experiments with Adaptive Agents Employing Alternate Communication Routines Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 2000 3 2 2

Back to article
Epstein J. M Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling 1999 4 5 4 46

Back to article
Falk A Fehr E Fischbacher U Appropriating the Commons: A Theoretical Explanation The Drama of the Commons 2002 Ostrom E Dietz T Dolsak N Stern P. C Stonich S Weber E. U Washington, DC National Academy Press 157 192

Back to article
Hardin G The Tragedy of the Commons Science 1968 162 3859 1243 1248

Back to article
Hedström P Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of Analytical Sociology 2005 Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Back to article
Holland J. H Emergence. From Chaos to Order 1998 New York Basic Books

Back to article
Jager W Janssen M. A Using Artificial Agents to Understand Laboratory Experiments of Common-Pool Resources with Real Agents Complexity and Ecosystem Management: The Theory and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems 2003 Janssen M. A Cheltenham Edward Elgar 75 102

Back to article
Janssen M. A Introducing Ecological Dynamics into Common-Pool Resource Experiments Ecology and Society 2010 15 2 7

Back to article
Janssen M. A Ostrom E Adoption of a New Regulation for the Governance of Common-Pool Resources by a Heterogeneous Population Inequality, Cooperation and Environmental Sustainability 2006a Baland J.-M Bardhan P Bowles S 60 96 Princeton Princeton University Press

Back to article
Janssen M. A Ostrom E Empirically Based, Agent-Based Models Ecology and Society 2006b 11 2 37

Back to article
Janssen M. A Goldstone R. L Menczer F Ostrom E Effect of Rule Choice in Dynamic Interactive Spacial Commons International Journal of the Commons 2008 2 2 288 312

Back to article
Macy M. W Willer R From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling Annual review of sociology 2002 28 143 166

Back to article
North D Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance 1990 Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press

Back to article
North D. C Understanding the Process of Economic Change 2005 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press

Back to article
Ostrom E Governing the Commons. The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action 1990 Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Back to article
Ostrom E Understanding Institutional Diversity 2005 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press

Back to article
Ostrom E The Value-Added of Laboratory Experiments for the Study of Institutions and Common-Pool Resources Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2006 61 149 163

Back to article
Ostrom E A Diagnostic Approach for Going Beyond Panaceas Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2007 104 39 15181 15187

Back to article
Ostrom E Gardner R Walker J Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources 1994 Ann Arbor The University of Michigan Press

Back to article
Ostrom E Dietz T Dolšak N Stern P. C Stonich S Weber E.U The Drama of the Commons 2002 Washington, DC National Academy Press

Back to article
Poteete A. R Janssen M. A Ostrom E Working Together: Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice 2010 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press

Back to article
Railsback S. F Grimm V Individual-Based Modeling and Ecology 2005 Princeton Princeton University Press

Back to article
Railsback S. F Grimm V Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling: A Practical Introduction 2012 Princeton Princeton University Press

Back to article
Smajgl A Izquierdo L. R Huigen M Modeling Endogenous Rule Changes in an Institutional Context Advances in Complex Systems 2008 11 2 199 215

Back to article
Squazzoni F Agent-Based Computational Sociology 2012 Chichester John Wiley & Sons

Back to article
Walker J Gardner R Ostrom E Rent Dissipation in a Limited Access Common-Pool Resource: Experimental Evidence Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 1990 19 203 211

Back to article
Watts D. J Strogatz S. H Collective Dynamics of ‘Small-World’ Networks Nature 1998 393 440 442

Back to article
Wilensky U Netlogo 1999 Evanston, IL Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University

Back to article
Wilensky U Rand W An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling: Modeling Natural, Social, and Engineered Complex Systems with NetLogo 2015 Cambridge, MA The MIT Press

Back to article

Managing the commons: a simple model of the emergence of institutions through collective action

Abstract

Paradigm

My account