Managing the commons: A simple model of the emergence of institutions through collective action

In this paper we present an abstract replication of institutional emergence patterns observed in common pool resource (CPR) problems. We used the ADICO grammar of institutions as the basic structure to model both users’ strategies and institutions. Through an evolutionary process, users modify their behaviours and eventually establish a management institution for their CPR system, leading to significant benefits both for them and for the commons as a whole. We showed that, even with a high level of abstraction, by taking an evolutionary perspective and using the ADICO structure, we are able to observe common institutional patterns. We confirmed that, even within this simplified environment, institutions significantly contributed to the sustainable management of common-pool resource systems.