  We compare the likelihood of different socially relevant features to allow
the evolutionary emergence and maintenance of cooperation in a generalized
variant of the iterated Prisoners Dilemma game. Results show that the average
costs/benefit balance of cooperation is the primary constraint for its
establishment and maintenance. Behavior increasing inclusive fitness such as
assortation, homophily, kin-selection and tagging of individuals, is second in
importance. Networks characteristics were the least important in favoring the
establishment and maintenance of cooperation, despite being the most popular in
recent research on the subject. Results suggest that inclusive fitness theory
with its expansions to include assortative and economic considerations is more
general, powerful and relevant in analyzing social phenomena than kin selection
theory with its emphasis on genetic relatedness. Merging economics with
evolutionary theory will be necessary to reveal more about the nature of social
dynamics.
