Narrow Results

We consider a version of large population games whose players compete for resources using strategies with adaptable preferences. The system efficiency is measured by the variance of the decisions. In the regime where the system can be plagued by the maladaptive behavior of the players, we find that diversity among the players improves the system efficiency, though it slows the convergence to the steady state. Diversity causes a mild spread of resources at the transient state, but reduces the uneven distribution of resources in the steady state.

There is broad scientific consensus that climate change will continue over the next several decades even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced drastically. The greatest human impacts of climate change are anticipated to be in low- and lower-middle-income countries. While reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases are essential, given the inevitability of climate change, a critical question is how societies can best adapt to climate change? In our accompanying main paper following this summary (Smith and Malik, 2019), we address this difficult question and many of the issues that it raises. We then describe some of the progress made thus far in addressing them.