Homophily and long-run integration in social networks

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2012
Volume: 147
Issue: 5
Pages: 1754-1786

Score contribution per author:

0.804 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

We model network formation when heterogeneous nodes enter sequentially and form connections through both random meetings and network-based search, but with type-dependent biases. We show that there is “long-run integration”, whereby the composition of types in sufficiently old nodesʼ neighborhoods approaches the global type-distribution, provided that the network-based search is unbiased. However, younger nodesʼ connections still reflect the biased meetings process. We derive the type-based degree distributions and group-level homophily patterns when there are two types and location-based biases. Finally, we illustrate aspects of the model with an empirical application to data on citations in physics journals.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:5:p:1754-1786
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-24