Essays on how social network structure affects asymmetric coordination and trust

Abstract

Network structure has been put forward as a possible solution to cooperation problems and social dilemmas. In the first part of this dissertation, the effect of network structure is studied for a social dilemma situation involving asymmetric coordination. The effects of network properties on these coordination problems are studied by means of agent-based models, models of statistical physics, and a laboratory experiment. In the second part, we study the question on how general trust can be established in societies that are becoming more individualistic. The theory known as organic solidarity argues that division of labor is one of the key foundations of trust and solidarity between people. This proposition is studied by quantifying aspects of the division of labor. We show that these aspects are strongly related to general trust.