The Importance of Norms: Behavioural Game Theory as a Tool to Understand Neighbourhood Events

Abstract

A neighbourhood’s viability depends strongly on the willingness of its residents to intervene. According to Mancur Olson’s free‐rider theorem, collective action will neither be initiated, nor sustained unless it is found profitable by every single participant. This “n‐person prisoners’ dilemma” indicates that the successful cases of cooperation, not the failures, call for an explanation; this is the theoretical starting point for a study of resident interactions in the viable Dutch mid‐rise post‐Second World War neighbourhood Buitenveldert‐Amsterdam. This article attempts to show that behavioural game theory is appropriate for the description and explanation of the reasoning and behaviour of residents who perceive collective good games. The deductive methodology known as analytic narrative is used to blend behavioural game theory and narration into the study of liveability problems. The results indicate that social norms are important as determinants of “what types of games residents play”, which in turn determines the degree of cooperative behaviour and the effectiveness of social control in a neighbourhood.