  Using the minority game as a model for competition dynamics, we investigate
the effects of inter-agent communications on the global evolution of the
dynamics of a society characterized by competition for limited resources. The
agents communicate across a social network with small-world character that
forms the static substrate of a second network, the influence network, which is
dynamically coupled to the evolution of the game. The influence network is a
directed network, defined by the inter-agent communication links on the
substrate along which communicated information is acted upon. We show that the
influence network spontaneously develops hubs with a broad distribution of
in-degrees, defining a robust leadership structure that is scale-free.
Furthermore, in realistic parameter ranges, facilitated by information exchange
on the network, agents can generate a high degree of cooperation making the
collective almost maximally efficient.
