Abstract
The prevalence of cooperation among humans is puzzling because cooperators can be exploited by free riders. Peer punishment has been suggested as a solution to this puzzle, but cumulating evidence questions its robustness in sustaining cooperation. Amongst others, punishment fails when it is not powerful enough, or when it elicits counter-punishment. Existing research, however, has ignored that the distribution of punishment power can be the result of social interactions. We introduce a novel experiment in which individuals can transfer punishment power to others. We find that while decentralised peer punishment fails to overcome free riding, the voluntary transfer of punishment power enables groups to sustain cooperation. This is achieved by non-punishing cooperators empowering those who are willing to punish in the interest of the group. Our results show how voluntary power centralisation can efficiently sustain cooperation, which could explain why hierarchical power structures are widespread among animals and humans.
Highlights
The prevalence of cooperation among humans is puzzling because cooperators can be exploited by free riders
Cooperative efforts bear the risk of exploitation by selfish agents who can reap the benefits without themselves contributing to the common good
Sustained cooperation is frequently observed in human societies[1,2,3,4]
Summary
The prevalence of cooperation among humans is puzzling because cooperators can be exploited by free riders. We find that while decentralised peer punishment fails to overcome free riding, the voluntary transfer of punishment power enables groups to sustain cooperation. This is achieved by non-punishing cooperators empowering those who are willing to punish in the interest of the group. Institutions can prevent anti-social punishment if the punishment rules in place focus on free riding, and agents cannot punish each other directly anymore Such institutions rely on the support of their members, and theory suggests that the second-order free rider problem is only solved if group members not willing to provide for the institution can be punished[45,51].
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