Bruner, Justin2019-07-100039-7857http://hdl.handle.net/1885/164527Recently, philosophers have investigated the emergence and evolution of the social contract. Yet extant work is limited as it focuses on the use of simple behavioral norms in rather rigid strategic settings. Drawing on axiomatic bargaining theory, we explore the dynamics of more sophisticated norms capable of guiding behavior in a wide range of scenarios. Overall, our investigation suggests the utilitarian bargaining solution has a privileged status as it has certain stability properties other social arrangements lack.application/pdfen-AU© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018201810.1007/s11229-018-1729-42022-02-27