Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Promoting Information Dispersion in Social Networks

信息对经济决策至关重要。人们获取信息的一个重要途径是通过社交网络。经济学家研究了社交网络的形态（或拓扑结构），试图理解人们获得有效信息传播的条件。这些研究使人们注意到“星星”形网络，这种网络发生在少数“枢纽”代理收集信息并将其分发给大量沿着“发言人”的时候。人们认为，这种网络结构在促进营销、政治领导以及传播新思想和创新等多种情况下的效率方面非常重要。尽管“星星”网络的重要性，但促进其出现的社会和经济环境的特征仍然存在不确定性。这是不幸的，因为许多经济发展中地区继续受到设计不良的信息网络的阻碍。信息对经济决策至关重要。在这种情况下，如果可能的话，采取简单的步骤（通过实施正确的制度）来促进明星的出现，可能会为一个地区的经济增长和发展带来实质性的好处。这项研究是为了发现这些简单的步骤。coPI研究了三个制度特征的影响，这些特征经常与自然环境中的星星网络共存。特别是，他假设，在下列情况下，星星网络可能更容易出现：（1）信息获取成本高，预算有限;（2）网络决策可以在真实的时间内做出;（3）存在某种形式的产权保护，特别是优先购买权，早期投资者有权（但没有义务）继续发挥这一作用。这三种制度都具有稳定决策环境的特点。他假设，正是这种稳定力量构成了可靠、有弹性、稳定和高效的星星网络形成的基础。该项目的结果可能产生更广泛的影响，因为它可能对农业发展产生重要影响，因为所研究的机构原则上可以很容易地在适当的自然环境中实施，以带来更好的农业知识和生产力。研究结果还可能促进知识和创新的广泛传播，最终促进经济发展进程。最后，本研究所提供的新视角对关键的跨学科研究具有价值，这些研究位于市场营销，公共政策研究，社会学，人类学以及行为和制度经济学的联系中。

Information is critical to economic decision making. One important way people obtain information is through social networks. Economists have studied the shapes (or topologies) of social networks, in an effort to understand the conditions under which one obtains efficient dissemination of information. These studies have led people to draw attention to 'star' shaped networks, which occur when small numbers of 'hub' agents gather information and distribute it to a large number of people along 'spokes'. This type of network structure is thought to be important in facilitating efficiency in a wide number of contexts, including marketing, political leadership, as well as the dissemination of new ideas and innovations. Despite the importance of 'star' networks, there remains uncertainty about the features of social and economic environments that facilitate their emergence. This is unfortunate, as many economically developing areas continue to be impeded by poorly designed information networks. Information is critical to economic decision making. In such cases, if possible, taking simple steps (by implementing the right sort of institutions) to facilitate the emergence of stars may offer substantial benefits for an area's economic growth and development. This study is an effort to discover these simple steps.The coPI studies the impact of three institutional characteristics that often coexist with star networks in natural settings. In particular, he hypothesizes that star networks may be more likely to emerge when(1)information acquisition is costly and budgets are limited; (2) network decisions can be made in real time; and (3)there exist a certain form of property right protection, in particular the right of the first refusal, where early investors have the right (but not the obligation) to continue to play this role. All three institutions have the characteristic of stabilizing the decision environment. He hypothesizes that it is this stabilizing force that underlies the formation of reliable, resilient, stable and efficient star network formation.Results from this project could have broader impact because it may have important implications for agricultural development, as the institutions studied could in principle easily be implemented in appropriate natural environments in order to bring improved agricultural knowledge and productivity. The results of the study may also foster broad-based spread of knowledge and innovation, which ultimately promotes the economic development process. Finally, the novel perspectives offered by this study hold value to critical cross-disciplinary research that lies at the nexus of marketing, public policy study, sociology, anthropology and behavioral and institutional economics.