social norms and the provision of public goods. However, a considerable body of experimental evidence suggests that informal … systems exist that avoid these costs and whether other, more centralized, punishment systems are superior and will be … preferred by the people. Here, we show that welfare-enhancing peer sanctioning without much need for costly punishment emerges …

Throughout human history, informal sanctions played a key role in the enforcement of social norms and the provision of … preferred by the people. Here, we show that welfare-enhancing peer sanctioning without much need for costly punishment emerges …. The exogenous removal of the norm consensus opportunity reduces the efficiency of peer punishment and renders centralized …

theories of fairness and reciprocity capture these forces. We find that cooperators' punishment is almost exclusively targeted … towards the defectors but the latter also impose a considerable amount of spiteful punishment on the cooperators. However …, spiteful punishment vanishes if the punishers can no longer affect the payoff differences between themselves and the punished …

This paper provides evidence that free riders are heavily punished even if punishment is costly and does not provide … punished. As a consequence, the existence of an opportunity for costly punishment causes a large increase in cooperation levels … because potential free riders face a credible threat. We show, in particular, that in the presence of a costly punishment …

theories of fairness and reciprocity capture these forces. We find that cooperators' punishment is almost exclusively targeted … towards the defectors but the latter also impose a considerable amount of spiteful punishment on the cooperators. However …, spiteful punishment vanishes if the punishers can no longer affect the payoff differences between themselves and the punished …

social norms and the provision of public goods. However, a considerable body of evidence suggests that informal peer … that avoid these costs and whether other, more centralized, punishment systems are superior and will be preferred by the … people. Here, we show that efficient peer sanctioning without much need for costly punishment emerges quickly if we introduce …

social norms and the provision of public goods. However, a considerable body of evidence suggests that informal peer … that avoid these costs and whether other, more centralized, punishment systems are superior and will be preferred by the … people. Here, we show that efficient peer sanctioning without much need for costly punishment emerges quickly if we introduce …