Yamit Asulin, Yuval Heller, Ro’i Zultan

Abstract

The dynamics of cooperation within large communities are different from those between individuals. It is often challenging to impose penalties on individuals who do not cooperate due to the limited information available about cooperation among large groups. Drawing inspiration from the historical phenomenon of German feuds in the late Middle Ages, we aim to explain the characteristics of feuds in the context of an evolutionary framework where feuds function as a driver of indirect reciprocity. Nobles in the past utilized feuds as a deterrent, mainly because they damaged the debtor’s reputation publicly. Our study aims to experimentally examine whether feuds observed by all players can serve as a mechanism of community enforcement. We use the prisoners’ dilemma game to model cooperation within large communities and test our hypothesis.