An Econometric Model of Network Formation With Degree Heterogeneity

S-Tier
Journal: Econometrica
Year: 2017
Volume: 85
Pages: 1033-1063

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

I introduce a model of undirected dyadic link formation which allows for assortative matching on observed agent characteristics (homophily) as well as unrestricted agent‐level heterogeneity in link surplus (degree heterogeneity). Like in fixed effects panel data analyses, the joint distribution of observed and unobserved agent‐level characteristics is left unrestricted. Two estimators for the (common) homophily parameter, β<sub>0</sub>, are developed and their properties studied under an asymptotic sequence involving a single network growing large. The first, tetrad logit (TL), estimator conditions on a sufficient statistic for the degree heterogeneity. The second, joint maximum likelihood (JML), estimator treats the degree heterogeneity {A<sub>i0</sub>}<sub>i = 1</sub>-super-N as additional (incidental) parameters to be estimated. The TL estimate is consistent under both sparse and dense graph sequences, whereas consistency of the JML estimate is shown only under dense graph sequences.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:emetrp:v:85:y:2017:i::p:1033-1063
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25