Word-of-Mouth Communication and Percolation in Social Networks

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2013
Volume: 103
Issue: 6
Pages: 2466-98

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

This paper develops a model of demand, pricing and advertising in the presence of social learning via word-of-mouth communication between friends. In the model consumers must receive information about a monopolist's product in order to consider purchasing it. The presence of word-of-mouth is not sufficient for demand to be more elastic and prices to be lower compared to an informed population. I derive the comparative static results of connectivity, mean-preserving spread of friendships, and clustering of friends on prices. The optimal targets for advertising are not, generically, the individuals with the most friends.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:103:y:2013:i:6:p:2466-98
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25