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on Network Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒11‒26
eight papers chosen by Pedro CL Souza Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro |
| By: | Lesley Chiou; Catherine Tucker |
| Abstract: | Online sources sometimes publish information that is false or intentionally misleading. We study the role of social networks and advertising on social networks in the dissemination of false news stories about childhood vaccines. We document that anti-vaccine Facebook groups disseminate false stories beyond the groups as well as serving as an “echo” chamber. We also find that after Facebook's ban on advertising by fake new sites, the sharing of fake news articles on Facebook fell by 75% on Facebook compared to Twitter. |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25223&r=net |
| By: | Bourles, Renaud; Bramoulle, Yann; Perez-Richet, Eduardo |
| Abstract: | We provide the first analysis of the risk-sharing implications of altruism networks. Agents are embedded in a fixed network and care about each other. We study whether altruistic transfers help smooth consumption and how this depends on the shape of the network. We identify two benchmarks where altruism networks generate efficient insurance: for any shock when the network of perfect altruism is strongly connected and for any small shock when the network of transfers is weakly connected. We show that the extent of informal insurance depends on the average path length of the altruism network and that small shocks are partially insured by endogenous risk-sharing communities. We uncover complex structural effects. Under iid incomes, central agents tend to be better insured, the consumption correlation between two agents is positive and tends to decrease with network distance, and a new link can decrease or increase the consumption variance of indirect neighbors. Overall, we show that altruism in networks has a first-order impact on risk and generates specific patterns of consumption smoothing. |
| Keywords: | altruism; Informal Insurance; networks; Risk Sharing |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13164&r=net |
| By: | Hsieh, Chih-Sheng; König, Michael; Liu, Xiaodong |
| Abstract: | We introduce a stochastic network formation model where agents choose both actions and links. Neighbors in the network benefit from each other's action levels through local complementarities and there exists a global interaction effect reflecting a strategic substitutability in actions. We provide a complete equilibrium characterization in the form of a Gibbs measure, and show that the model is consistent with empirically observed networks. We then use our equilibrium characterization to show that the model can be conveniently estimated even for large networks. The policy relevance is demonstrated with examples of firm exit, mergers and subsidies in R&D collaboration networks. |
| Keywords: | key player; mergers and acquisitions; network formation; peer effects; Subsidies; technology spillovers |
| JEL: | C11 C63 C73 D83 L22 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13161&r=net |
| By: | Fatas, E; Miguel A. Meléndez-Jiménez; Hector Solaz |
| Abstract: | We experimentally study punishment patterns across network structures, and their effect on cooperation. In a repeated public goods setting, subjects can only observe and punish their neighbors. Centralized structures (like the star network) outperform other incomplete networks and reach contribution levels like the ones observed in a complete network. Our results suggest that hierarchical network structures with a commonly observed player benefit more from sanctions not because central players punish more, but because they follow, and promote, different punishment patterns. While quasi-central players in other incomplete architectures (like the line network) retaliate, and get trapped in the vicious circle of antisocial punishment, central players in the star network do not punish back, increase their contributions when sanctioned by peripheral players, and sanction other participants in a prosocial manner. Our results illustrate recent field studies on the evolutionary prevalence of hierarchical networks. We document a network-based rationale for this positive effect in an identity-free, fully anonymous environment. |
| Keywords: | Public good experiments, networks, monitoring, punishment |
| Date: | 2018–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:016946&r=net |
| By: | A. Alekseev; Mikhail Freer |
| Abstract: | We study the selection problem in economic experiments by focusing on its dynamic and network aspects. We develop a dynamic network model of student participation in a subject pool, which assumes that students' participation is driven by the two channels: the direct channel of recruitment and the indirect channel of student interaction. Using rich recruitment data from a large public university, we find that the patterns of participation and biases are consistent with the model. We also find evidence of both short- and long-run selection biases between males and females, as well as between cohorts of students. Males tend to have higher participation rates than females, and participation rates tend to decrease with a cohort's age. Our empirical findings confirm that dynamic and peer effects play an important role in shaping the selection problem. Our model allows us to reconcile some of the mixed results in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, experimental economics, selection problem, laboratory experiments, external validity, networks, diffusion, |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/278180&r=net |
| By: | Thies, Ferdinand; Wessel, Michael; Benlian, Alexander |
| Date: | 2018–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:108635&r=net |
| By: | Bobby Chung (Clemson University) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the discussion on childhood exposure by investigating the extent to which the educational background of peers’ parents is related to a child’s future college attainment. I analyze the friendship networks of a nationally representative sample of high-school students in the US and find that the spillover from peers’ parents of the same gender operates independently of peer effects. The effects are robust to addressing friendship selection. The same gender pattern suggests either the transmission of gender-specific information or the presence of a role model effect. Furthermore, the same gender spillover is significant only for students from lower-educated families. A student whose father is absent or less caring also experiences significant influence from peers’ fathers. The heterogeneity by own family background indicates the influences from parental and non-parental adults are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | peers' parents, social interactions, college attainment, childhood exposure |
| JEL: | C11 D91 I24 J10 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-086&r=net |
| By: | Bisztray, Marta; Koren, Miklós; Szeidl, Adam |
| Abstract: | We use firm-level data from Hungary to estimate knowledge spillovers in importing through fine spatial and managerial networks. By identifying from variation in peers' import experience across source countries, by comparing the spillover from neighboring buildings with a cross-street placebo, and by exploiting plausibly exogenous firm moves, we obtain credible estimates and establish three results. (1) There are significant knowledge spillovers in both spatial and managerial networks. Having a peer which has imported from a particular country more than doubles the probability of starting to import from that country, but the effect quickly decays with distance. (2) Spillovers are heterogeneous: they are stronger when firms or peers are larger or more productive, and exhibit complementarities in firm and peer productivity. (3) The model-implied social multiplier is highly skewed, implying that targeting an import-encouragement policy to firms with many and productive neighbors can make it 26% more effective. These results highlight the benefit of firm clusters in facilitating the diffusion of business practices. |
| Keywords: | Imports; manager networks; peer effects; social multiplier; spatial spillovers |
| JEL: | D22 F14 R32 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13200&r=net |