The downside of heterogeneity: How established relations counteract systemic adaptivity in tasks assignments
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Date
2021-11Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
We study the lock-in effect in a network of task assignments. Agents have a heterogeneous fitness for solving tasks and can redistribute unfinished tasks to other agents. They learn over time to whom to reassign tasks and preferably choose agents with higher fitness. A lock-in occurs if reassignments can no longer adapt. Agents overwhelmed with tasks then fail, leading to failure cascades. We find that the probability for lock-ins and systemic failures increase with the heterogeneity in fitness values. To study this dependence, we use the Shannon entropy of the network of task assignments. A detailed discussion links our findings to the problem of resilience and observations in social systems. Show more
Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
arXivPages / Article No.
Publisher
Cornell UniversitySubject
resilience; systemic risk; failure cascades; entropy; adaptivityOrganisational unit
03682 - Schweitzer, Frank / Schweitzer, Frank
Related publications and datasets
Is previous version of: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000522259
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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