Eur. Phys. J. B 67, 319-327 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00027-5

Collaborate, compete and share

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, “Sapienza” Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
² SMC, INFM-CNR, Piazzale A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
³ The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
⁴ ISC, INFM-CNR, via dei Taurini 19, 00185 Roma, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a claudio.castellano@romal.infn.it

Received: 8 May 2008
Revised: 24 December 2008
Published online: 27 January 2009

Abstract

We introduce and study a model of an interacting population of agents who collaborate in groups which compete for limited resources. Groups are formed by random matching agents and their worth is determined by the sum of the efforts deployed by agents in group formation. Agents, on their side, have to share their effort between contributing to their group's chances to outcompete other groups and resource sharing among partners, when the group is successful. A simple implementation of this strategic interaction gives rise to static and evolutionary properties with a very rich phenomenology. A robust emerging feature is the separation of the population between agents who invest mainly in the success of their group and agents who concentrate in getting the largest share of their group's profits.