|
on Network Economics |
| By: | Alejandra Agustina Martínez (University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | Do peers influence individuals’ involvement in political activism? To provide a quantitative answer, I study Argentina’s abortion rights debate through Twitter, the social media platform. Pro-choice and pro-life activists coexisted online, and the evidence suggests peer groups were not too polarized. I develop a model of strategic interactions in a network allowing for heterogeneous peer effects. Next, I estimate peer effects and test whether online activism exhibits strategic substitutability or complementarity. I create a novel panel dataset where links and actions are observable by combining tweets’ and users’ information. I provide a reduced-form analysis by proposing a network-based instrumental variable. The results indicate strategic complementarity in online activism from both aligned and opposing peers. Notably, the evidence suggests homophily in the formation of Twitter’s network, but it does not support the hypothesis of an echo-chamber effect. |
| Keywords: | Political activism; Peer effects; Social networks; Social media |
| JEL: | D74 D85 P00 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:277&r=net |
| By: | Áureo de Paula; Imran Rasul; Pedro CL Souza |
| Abstract: | Social interactions determine many economic behaviors, but information on social ties does not exist in most publicly available and widely used datasets. We present results on the identification of social networks from observational panel data that contains no information on social ties between agents. In the context of a canonical social interactions model, we provide sufficient conditions under which the social interactions matrix, endogenous and exogenous social effect parameters are globally identified if networks are constant over time. We also provide an extension of the method for time-varying networks. We then describe how high-dimensional estimation techniques can be used to estimate the interactions model based on the Adaptive Elastic Net Generalized Method of Moments. We employ the method to study tax competition across US states. The identified social interactions matrix implies that tax competition differs markedly from the common assumption of competition between geographically neighboring states, providing further insights into the long-standing debate on the relative roles of factor mobility and yardstick competition in driving tax setting behavior across states. Most broadly, our identification and application show that the analysis of social interactions can be extended to economic realms where no network data exists. |
| Date: | 2023–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:azt:cemmap:21/23&r=net |
| By: | Nobuyuki Hanaki; Yutaka Kayaba; Jun Maekawa; Hitoshi Matsushima |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of a cycle path on the trading of a copyable information good in a network experimentally. A cycle path in a network allows a buyer to become a reseller who can compete against existing sellers by replicating the good. A theoretical prediction considers that the price of the information good, even with the first transaction where there is not yet a reseller competing with the original seller, will be lower in networks with a cycle path than otherwise. However, our experiment reveals that the observed price for the first transaction is significantly higher in networks with a cycle path. An additional experiment that enhances competition also does not support the theoretical prediction. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1151r&r=net |
| By: | Tabuga, Aubrey D.; Domingo, Sonny N.; Umlas, Anna Jennifer L.; Zuluaga, Katrina Mae C. |
| Abstract: | Social norms and structures are vital factors that shape people’s behavior and attitudes. Therefore, analyzing such underlying forces in creating strategies to influence behavior and activities is useful. Agricultural extension services, such as information dissemination and farmers’ training, are some of the interventions that can benefit from such analyses, especially within a context of limited human and financial resources. The lessons learned from analyzing social networks and norms can be used to identify potential local knowledge and information disseminators, thereby aiding the extension services. It also helps in formulating more contextualized approaches to reach the underserved and hard-to-reach areas. Applying this approach, this study used the case of a remote upland area in Atok, Benguet, a major vegetable producer. A social network analysis was used to develop insights for designing more effective extension strategies. The results show that interventions like information and education campaigns can be improved by acknowledging the nuances in social relation structures. |
| Keywords: | social network analysis;information and education campaign;Philippines;Benguet farming;upland farming |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:rps_2023-03&r=net |
| By: | Oguzhan Celebi |
| Abstract: | I introduce a favor exchange model where favors are substitutable and study bilateral enforcement of cooperation. Without substitutability, the value of a relationship does not depend on the rest of the network, and in equilibrium there is either no cooperation or universal cooperation. When favors are substitutable, each additional relationship is less valuable than the previous, and intermediate levels of cooperation are observed. I extend the model to allow for transfers, heterogeneous players, and multilateral enforcement. My results can explain the stratification of social networks in post-Soviet states and the adoption of different enforcement mechanisms by different groups of medieval traders. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.10749&r=net |
| By: | Hargaden, Enda; Hanson, Andrew; Harris, Matthew |
| Abstract: | We derive optimal tax formulas for network goods. The solution trades-off contemporaneous revenue collection against the discounted future flows of reduced network growth. We provide conditions under which the optimal tax sequence is time-invariant, and show that the rates should in general change over time. A quantitative model with consumer heterogeneity highlights patterns in these optimal sequences, and underscores the equity trade-offs |
| Keywords: | Public Finance, Optimal taxation, network goods, consumption externalities, atmospheric externalities. |
| JEL: | H20 H21 H23 |
| Date: | 2023–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:118661&r=net |
| By: | Gene M. Grossman; Elhanan Helpman; Alejandro Sabal |
| Abstract: | Forward-looking investments determine the resilience of firms' supply chains. Such investments confer externalities on other firms in the production network. We compare the equilibrium and optimal allocations in a general equilibrium model with an arbitrary number of vertical production tiers. Our model features endogenous investments in resilience, endogenous formation of supply links, and sequential bargaining over quantities and payments between firms in successive tiers. We derive policies that implement the first-best allocation, allowing for subsidies to input purchases, network formation, and investments in resilience. The first-best policies depend only on production function parameters of the pertinent tier. When subsidies to transactions are infeasible, the second-best subsidies for resilience and network formation depend on production function parameters throughout the network, and subsidies are larger upstream than downstream whenever the bargaining weights of buyers are non-increasing along the chain. |
| JEL: | D21 D62 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31739&r=net |
| By: | , anjaliravi |
| Abstract: | Examining the architecture of criminal social networks can deliver con- siderable understanding of these communities’ organizational structure, highlighting elements like their size and degree of centralization. Although similar examinations have been undertaken previously, our study cen- tered on generating a large-scale social graph utilizing a limited amount of leaked data, specifically criminal email addresses, from Nigerian offend- ers. We initiated our research by formulating a social graph encompassing 43 thousand nodes, sourced from one thousand publicly exposed Nigerian criminal email addresses. This was achieved by pinpointing Facebook pro- files linked to these email addresses and extracting the publicly available social graph from these profiles. We subsequently conducted an extensive analysis of this social graph to identify prominent criminal profiles, or- ganized criminal groups, and wide-ranging criminal communities. In the end, we performed a manual review of these profiles, unearthing numer- ous public Facebook groups with a criminal focus. This study underlines the considerable volume of information that can be extracted even from minimal data leaks. |
| Date: | 2023–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:bn3y2&r=net |
| By: | Campi, Mercedes; Dueñas, Marco |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we characterize the geography of Colombian exporting clusters and analyze how the COVID-19 crisis has affected Colombian exporters. We contribute to the industrial clusters literature by defining exporting clusters with bipartite network analysis and community detection tools. The methodology allows us to empirically detect product clusters, which are compared with an alternative definition of industrial clusters, and to consider the centrality of firms within clusters. Then, we analyze the firms trade margins during the COVID-19 crisis to evaluate whether belonging to an exporting cluster can be a source of resilience for firms. We find that clusters do not automatically lead to higher resilience and that there are differences in how firms react to a crisis within clusters. Identifying the relevant firms characteristics can guide policymakers to activate the mechanisms that generate resilience. |
| Keywords: | exporting clusters;margins of trade;COVID-19;bipartite networks;community detection |
| JEL: | F14 R12 L19 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12527&r=net |
| By: | Silano, Filippo |
| Abstract: | Ministry of Finance advisers play a crucial role in managing public finance matters, acting as a bridge between bureaucratic and political realms. This article aims to identify the essential skills and experiences that advisers must possess and how these professional qualities relate to their appointments. Collating a unique longitudinal dataset from selected OECD countries, this study employs sequence analysis and network science to identify common career paths and a transnational network encompassing governmental bodies, standard-setters, and academia. The research also uncovers significant variations in professional trajectories across and within countries, indicating that diverse advisory traditions and ministerial strategies require specific skills and experiences. This article sheds light on a relatively unexplored aspect of public finance policymaking by focusing on these often overlooked actors. Inductively, it enhances the understanding of ministerial advisers by highlighting how individual characteristics play a role in their appointment. |
| Keywords: | government, ministerial advisers, careers, sequence analysis, optimal matching, social network analysis, economic sociology, comparative politics |
| JEL: | P16 H11 H30 H39 H60 H83 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ilewps:73&r=net |
| By: | Aizenman , Joshua (University of Southern California); Uddin, Gazi Salah (Linköping University); Luo , Tianqi (Trinity College Dublin); Jayasekera , Ranadeva (Trinity College Dublin); Park, Donghyun (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether prudential policies help to reduce sovereign bond vulnerability to global spillover risk in ASEAN-4 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand). We measure sovereign vulnerability within a risk connectedness network among sovereign bonds. The direct effect is that markets with tighter prudential policies have significantly smaller spillovers from the Treasury yield shocks of other regional and global economies. The sum of indirect and direct effects indicates that prudential policies reduce sovereign spillover risk in the long term. These findings suggest prudential policies have dual efficiency in sovereign risk regulation and Treasury internationalization |
| Keywords: | sovereign bond; prudential policy; risk networks; connectedness; ASEAN |
| JEL: | E52 E58 F42 |
| Date: | 2023–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0696&r=net |
| By: | Mullon, Charles; Peña, Jorge; Lehmann, Laurent |
| Abstract: | Many social interactions happen indirectly via modifications of environmental variables, e.g. through the depletion of renewable resources or the secretion of functional compounds. Here, we derive the selection gradient on a quantitative trait affecting the dynamics of such environmental vari-ables that feedback on reproduction and survival in a patch-structured population that is finite, of con-stant size, and subject to isolation by distance. Our analysis shows that the selection gradient depends on how a focal individual influences the fitness of all future individuals in the population through modifications of the environmental variables they experience, weighted by the neutral relatedness be-tween recipients and the focal. The evolutionarily relevant trait-driven environmental modifications are formalized as the extended phenotypic effects of an individual, which quantify how a trait change in the individual in the present affects the environmental variables in all patches at all future times. When the trait affects reproduction and survival through some payoff function, the selection gradient can be expressed in terms of extended phenotypic effects weighted by scaled-relatedness coefficients. We show how to compute extended phenotypic effects, relatedness, and scaled-relatedness coefficients using Fourier analysis, allowing us to investigate a broad class of environmentally mediated social in-teractions in a tractable way. We illustrate our approach by studying the evolution of a trait controlling the costly production of some lasting commons (e.g. a common-pool resource or a toxic compound) that can diffuse in space. We show that whether selection favours environmentally mediated altruism or spite depends on the spatial correlation between an individual’s lineage and the commons originat-ing from its patch. The sign of this correlation depends on interactions between dispersal patterns and the commons’ renewal dynamics. More broadly, we suggest that selection can favour a wide range of social behaviours when these are mediated in space and time through environmental feedback. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive dynamics; Metacommunity; Extended Phenotype; Altruism; Spite |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:128560&r=net |
| By: | Castillo-Tellez, Luis Carlos |
| Abstract: | This research provides an exhaustive analysis of the European digital divide literature's evolution and current state, particularly emphasizing the often-underexplored corporate sector. The digital divide, denoting disparities in digital access, literacy, and fluency, has become a critical concern in the era of rapid digital transformation. Despite its significance, research on the corporate digital divide is limited. This study aims to address this gap to advance in different research avenues on digital disparities in the business realm. Using a dataset of 1609 documents published from 2000 to 2022, extracted from Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions, the study employs three bibliometric techniques-performance analysis, science mapping, and network analysis-to examine the research landscape, including scientific output, impact, and intellectual structure within the field. The research uncovers key trends and shifts in European digital divide research across three distinct periods (2000- 2007, 2008-2015, 2016-2022). It highlights the evolution of research themes from access inequalities to a nuanced understanding of skills and usage disparities, reflecting the multifaceted nature of the digital divide. The study reveals a significant gap in the literature regarding the corporate digital divide, with only 30 out of the 1609 documents directly addressing this area. It further identifies leading institutions, publications, and thematic clusters in digital divide research, emphasizing the role of intellectual interactions and thematic connections in shaping the field. |
| Keywords: | Digital Divide, Bibliometric Analysis, European Research, Corporate Digital Divide, Digital Divide Evolution |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse23:277949&r=net |