Effects of decision-making on the transport costs across complex networks

We analyse the effects of agents' decisions on the creation of congestion on a centralised network with ring-and-hub topology. We show that there are two classes of agents each displaying a distinct set of behaviours. The dynamics of the system are driven by an interplay between the formation of, and transition between, unique stable states that arise as the network is varied. We show how the flow of objects across the network can be understood in terms of the ordering and allocation of strategies. Our results show that the existence of congestion in a network is a dynamic process that is as much dependent on the agents' decisions as it is on the structure of the network itself. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.