The present paper proposes a simple model for studying the interplay between self-enforcing cooperation and network formation. In particular, the model provides an answer to the ancient question of how cooperative behavior emerges in different communities and how the possibility of behaving cooperatively shapes the social structure of a community. In a sense, I provide an explanation of how trust, by which I mean the existence of self-sustainable cooperation, can emerge in a society and how the society is shaped by third-party enforcement.

Felipe Balmaceda