Two hunters do better cooperating on large game, but each is safer defecting to small game, so trust rather than interest is the binding problem.
Rousseau's 1755 illustration. It is the core model of situations where everyone prefers cooperation and nobody dares go first, which makes it about assurance rather than about conflicting interests.
In practice
- Two neighbours would each rather share the cost of a fence than build their own, and each waits for the other to raise it.
- Two firms that would both gain from a shared standard each build their own, because being the only one who cooperated is the worst outcome.
- Standing
- The core model of situations where everyone prefers cooperation but nobody dares go first.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- The recurring shapes of conflict and cooperation