Contagion and efficiency

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2008
Volume: 143
Issue: 1
Pages: 251-274

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

We consider a population of agents, either finite or countably infinite, located on an arbitrary network. Agents interact directly only with their immediate neighbors, but are able to observe the behavior of (some) other agents beyond their interaction neighborhood, and learn from that behavior by imitating successful actions. If interactions are not "too global" but information is fluid enough, we show that the efficient action is the only one which can spread contagiously to the whole population from an initially small, finite subgroup. This result holds even in the presence of an alternative, -dominant action.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:143:y:2008:i:1:p:251-274
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24