Social Preferences, Learning, and the Dynamics of Cooperation in Networked Societies: A Dialogue Between Experimental and Computational Approaches
Date
2016
Authors
Cotla, Chenna Reddy
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Abstract
In this dissertation, I empirically investigate cooperative behavior in networks using the framework of network public goods games. To do so, I use a dialogue between behavioral experiments and agent-based models. I design and conduct behavioral experiments to generate data to construct boundedly rational agents that behave like humans and reproduce stylized facts in public goods environments. The human-like agents are deployed in a small-scale agent-based model to make novel quantitative predictions that can be statistically tested using a new set of behavioral experiments. This ensures that the behavioral specification of agents carries predictive value so that quantitative predictions made using it can be reproduced with human subject experiments. The high fidelity agent-based model is then extended to study the dynamics cooperation in networked environments. The dissertation is organized into three chapters.
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Keywords
Economics, Agent-Based Modeling, Cooperation, Incentivized Experiments, Learning, Networks, Social Preferences