The monograph gives a theoretical explanation of observed cooperative
behavior in common pool situations. The incentives for cooperative
decision making are investigated by means of a cooperative game
theoretical framework. In a first step core existence results are worked
out. Whereas general core existence results provide us with an answer
for mutual cooperation, nothing can be said how strong these incentives
and how stable these cooperative agreements are. To clarify these
questions the convexity property for common pool TU-games in scrutinized
in a second step. It is proved that the convexity property holds for a
large subclass of symmetrical as well as asymmetrical cooperative common
pool games. Core existence and the convexity results provide us with a
theoretical explanation to bridge the gap between the observation in
field studies for cooperation and the noncooperative prediction that the
common pool resource will be overused and perhaps endangered.