When is intergroup herding beneficial?

We develop a population dynamics model to explore the benefits of intergroup herding. We consider a society composed of two groups – one autonomous and the other open, i.e., learning from outsiders indiscriminately – and analyze the joint evolution of their technology adoption and population sizes. When the autonomous group converges to an inferior steady state, it can, under some conditions, drag the open group down with it. However, if the autonomous group converges to a superior steady state, the open group always ends up in the superior steady state, even if technology adoption is very difficult for its members. When the open group learns from multiple autonomous groups, the advantage of intergroup herding is more salient. However, if population is bounded, or if adopting the inferior technology generates a negative externality on the other group, intergroup herding becomes less beneficial.