David Hume delivered an informal theory of how humans managed their way from a rather poor life in small groups to comparatively big wealth based on division of labour in large groups of people that are distant from each other. The dynamic is driven by two antagonistic forces: on the one hand specialisation entails incentives for division of labour but on the other hand the interaction structure of exchange regimes is that of a social dilemma. In this paper, an agent-based model is introduced that formalises important elements of Hume's theory. The main concepts that capture Hume's ideas are described and first results are presented.
['Oliver Will']
HUME 1.0 : an agent-based model on the evolution of trust in strangers and division of labour