Abstract:
Online games have exploded in popularity over the past twenty years alone, from just over 50,000 active participants by 1997 to over 22 million worldwide as of 2011. It is becoming more and more apparent that virtual reality worlds are not only here to stay, but provide for us the opportunity to explore a new empirical frontier in economic development. Given the notable absence in these environments of the usual sorts of government intervention prevalent in most advanced economies, this dissertation explores how individuals in online virtual societies go about establishing the institutions necessary for economic exchange.
