Sequential Social Dilemma

What is Social Dilemma?

Definition

A social dilemma refers to a situation in which individual actions that seem to be rational and in self-interest can lead to collective outcomes that are undesirable for everyone.

Examples

• Public goods games (Prisoner’s Dilemma, Snowdrift)
• Common recourses games.
• Braess’s paradox.

The free-rider problem

The free-rider problem arises when individuals can benefit from a resource or service without paying for it or contributing to its provision. This can lead to under-provision of that good or service, or overuse and depletion if it’s a shared resource.

The problem is particularly pertinent in the case of public goods. Public goods are characterized by two properties:

1. Non-excludability: Once the good is produced, no one can be excluded from using or benefiting from it. This means producers can’t prevent non-payers from accessing the good.

2. Non-rivalry: One person’s use of the good doesn’t reduce its availability for others.

Given these properties, individuals often lack the incentive to pay for or contribute to the production of the good, since they can benefit from it without doing so. They instead “free-ride” on the contributions of others. If everyone adopts this mindset, the good may not be produced at all, or it may be produced in insufficient quantities.

Examples of the Free-rider Problem:

1. National Defense: Once a country establishes a defense system, all residents are protected, regardless of how much they personally contributed to it. Some might benefit from the defense without paying taxes or contributing to its provision, effectively free-riding on the contributions of others.

2. Public Broadcast: A public radio station provides content freely to all listeners. Those who listen without donating or supporting the station are free riders.

3. Vaccination: When a significant portion of a population gets vaccinated against a contagious disease, herd immunity can protect even those who haven’t been vaccinated. Those who choose not to get vaccinated but still benefit from the reduced risk are free riders.

4. Public Parks and Clean Air: If a community raises funds to maintain a public park or invests in reducing air pollution, those who enjoy the park or the clean air without contributing to the funding or efforts are free riders.

The free-rider problem can lead to inefficiencies and under-provision of public goods. It’s a central challenge in economics and public policy and often necessitates government intervention or alternative funding mechanisms to ensure adequate provision of public goods or protection of shared resources.

Strategic Intentions

• Leibo, Joel Z., et al. “Multi-agent reinforcement learning in sequential social dilemmas.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.03037 (2017).

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