Network reciprocity and inequality: The role of additional mixing links among social groups

Local interactions among individuals are often modeled by networks, while global interactions are represented by well-mixed populations. However, people have different roles within their communities, and their interactions with family and colleagues are often local and repeated, while interactions with unknown individuals are often global and unpredictable. To capture this situation between local and global interactions, a proposed model studies the effect of additional links that mix local neighborhood and global group interactions. The study aims to evaluate the impact of mixing links on cooperation and inequality. The research found that mixing links can promote the evolution of cooperation, regardless of whether the network is homogeneous (regular random) or heterogeneous (BA scale-free). It also observed that mixing links has a positive effect on upward economic mobility, but they lead to the polarization of wealth. Our research suggests that additional mixing links have a dual nature: improve cooperation and promote upward economic mobility, but widen wealth inequality. Insights offered by this dual-edged nature can be used to understand inequality in interventions of complex social systems.