Replicator-mutator dynamics for public goods games with institutional incentives

Understanding the emergence and stability of cooperation in public goods games is important due to its applications in fields such as biology, economics, and social science. However, a gap remains in comprehending how mutations, both additive and multiplicative, as well as institutional incentives, influence these dynamics. In this paper, we study the replicator-mutator dynamics, with combined additive and multiplicative mutations, for public goods games both in the absence or presence of institutional incentives. For each model, we identify the possible number of (stable) equilibria, demonstrate their attainability, as well as analyse their stability properties. We also characterise the dependence of these equilibria on the model’s parameters via bifurcation analysis and asymptotic behaviour. Our results offer rigorous and quantitative insights into the role of institutional incentives and the effect of combined additive and multiplicative mutations on the evolution of cooperation in the context of public goods games.