Modeling Inequality in Complex Networks of Strategic Agents using Iterative Game-Theoretic Transactions

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kejriwal, Mayank, Luo, Yuesheng
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909620366213120
author Kejriwal, Mayank
Luo, Yuesheng
author_facet Kejriwal, Mayank
Luo, Yuesheng
contents Transactions are an important aspect of human social life, and represent dynamic flow of information, intangible values, such as trust, as well as monetary and social capital. Although much research has been conducted on the nature of transactions in fields ranging from the social sciences to game theory, the systemic effects of different types of agents transacting in real-world social networks (often following a scale-free distribution) are not fully understood. A particular systemic measure that has not received adequate attention in the complex networks and game theory communities, is the Gini Coefficient, which is widely used in economics to quantify and understand wealth inequality. In part, the problem is a lack of experimentation using a replicable algorithm and publicly available data. Motivated by this problem, this article proposes a model and simulation algorithm, based on game theory, for quantifying the evolution of inequality in complex networks of strategic agents. Our results shed light on several complex drivers of inequality, even in simple, abstract settings, and exhibit consistency across networks with different origins and descriptions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_16966
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Modeling Inequality in Complex Networks of Strategic Agents using Iterative Game-Theoretic Transactions
Kejriwal, Mayank
Luo, Yuesheng
Computer Science and Game Theory
Social and Information Networks
Transactions are an important aspect of human social life, and represent dynamic flow of information, intangible values, such as trust, as well as monetary and social capital. Although much research has been conducted on the nature of transactions in fields ranging from the social sciences to game theory, the systemic effects of different types of agents transacting in real-world social networks (often following a scale-free distribution) are not fully understood. A particular systemic measure that has not received adequate attention in the complex networks and game theory communities, is the Gini Coefficient, which is widely used in economics to quantify and understand wealth inequality. In part, the problem is a lack of experimentation using a replicable algorithm and publicly available data. Motivated by this problem, this article proposes a model and simulation algorithm, based on game theory, for quantifying the evolution of inequality in complex networks of strategic agents. Our results shed light on several complex drivers of inequality, even in simple, abstract settings, and exhibit consistency across networks with different origins and descriptions.
title Modeling Inequality in Complex Networks of Strategic Agents using Iterative Game-Theoretic Transactions
topic Computer Science and Game Theory
Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.16966