Social Reinforcement: Cascades, Entrapment, and Tipping

B-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
Year: 2010
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Pages: 86-99

Authors (2)

Geoffrey Heal (Columbia University) Howard Kunreuther (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The actions of different agents sometimes reinforce each other. Examples are network effects and the threshold models used by sociologists as well as (Harvey) Leibenstein's "bandwagon effects." We model such situations as a game with increasing differences, and show that tipping of equilibria, cascading, and clubs with entrapment are natural consequences of this mutual reinforcement. If there are several equilibria, one of which Pareto dominates, then the inefficient equilibria can be tipped to the efficient one, a result of interest in the context of coordination problems. We characterize the smallest tipping set. (JEL C72, D80, D85, Z13)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejmic:v:2:y:2010:i:1:p:86-99
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-02-02