The NMC model, a sequel of the Musical Chairs model, explores how land use competition could be constrained by cooperation and social institutions.

The NMC model test the effects of social structure and dynamics, according to which individual stakeholders compete and cooperate depending on adscription to social groups. The model also considers two particular modalities of cooperative mechanisms: land use pairing, the awarding, in terms of productivity, of any direct collaboration between farming and herding within a group; and group management, the prerogative of a group leadership to manage individual stakeholders in order to pursue a particular proportion between farming and herding. Lastly, the model allows assessing the effects of these mechanisms under either open or restricted access to pasture regimes.

Angourakis, A., Salpeteur, M., Ferreras, V.M., Gurt Esparraguera, J.M. (2017). The Nice Musical Chairs Model: Exploring the Role of Competition and Cooperation Between Farming and Herding in the Formation of Land Use Patterns in Arid Afro-Eurasia. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. doi:10.1007/s10816-016-9309-8