Sharing, gift-giving, and optimal resource use in hunter-gatherer society

Hunter-gatherer societies are characterized by decentralized decision making and shared access to resources. Goods are distributed via reciprocal exchange, sharing, and gift-giving, in the end resulting in relatively equal distribution. Work effort, however, is not distributed equally; the best hunters exert a disproportionate share of productive effort. We argue that these features of the hunter-gatherer economy are interrelated, and are consistent with the view that customary gift-giving and sharing arrangements manage usage of open-access resources. In particular, sharing rules can induce optimal hunting effort, while gift-giving can serve to elicit information about hunter productivity.