The study, appearing today in the journal Science, suggests that groups with few rules attract many
The study, appearing today in the journal Science, suggests that groups with few rules attract many exploitative people who quickly undermine cooperation. By contrast, communities that allow punishment, and in which power is distributed equally, are more likely to draw people who, even at their own cost, are willing to stand up to miscreants." ----"The bottom line of the paper is that when you have people with shared standards, and some who have the moral courage to sanction others, informally, then this kind of society manages very successfully," said the study's senior author, Bettina Rockenbach, who was joined in the research by Bernd Irlenbusch, now at the London School of Economics, and Ozgur Gurek."
Source: Benedict Carey,"Study Links Punishment to an Ability to Profit," NYT, April 7, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/science/07punish.html