Some scholars known as <italic>offensive realists</italic> claim that in the uncertainty of world politics, trust and cooperation between states is extremely unlikely. Others, such as <italic>defensive realists</italic>, claim that rational states are capable of finding ways to counteract the complications created by...

This article reports the results of a controlled lab experiment that studies the effects of strategically irrelevant “cheap talk” via 3D world audio communication and 2D text messaging. I also analyze the effects of technical information richness, experience with a communication medium,...

We use experimental methods to study the power of leading by words. The context is a voluntary contribution mechanism with one-way communication. One group member can send a free-form text message to his fellow players. Contrary to the commonly accepted wisdom that the cooperation-enhancing...

Communication plays a vital role in the organization and operation of biological, computational, economic, and social systems. Agents often base their behavior on the signals they receive from others and also recognize the importance of the signals they send. Here we develop a framework for...

This paper examines the role of other-regarding and time preferences for cooperation in the field. We study the preferences of fishermen whose main, and often only, source of income stems from using a common pool resource (CPR). The exploitation of a CPR involves a negative interpersonal and...