Talk, Noise, and Silence in Networks: Obstacles to Information Sharing

网络中信息共享的障碍摘要个人之间的网络或社交网络有助于传递有关医疗保健、教育和工作以及新技术、法律和政治思想的重要信息。正规机构不强的社区尤其依赖这些网络来传递重要信息。然而，有时这些渠道会失败，人们并不清楚它们失败的原因。这项研究调查了非正式网络中信息流动的障碍，目的是改善沟通，沟通是生产力、竞争力和增长的重要投入。利用理论和数据，它将调查阻碍非正式网络中的人们共享信息的主要因素，并研究改善信息共享的方法。这项研究的结果将帮助我们了解社交网络在信息传输中的作用，但更重要的是，展示如何利用网络传播关于技术、公共卫生、教育、法律、政治和公民生活的信息，以改善社会。这项研究的结果适用于几个领域；它们对发达国家和发展中国家都有影响。这项研究调查了阻碍有效信息传递并阻止人们从中受益的主要摩擦。本研究分为三个维度：理论研究、调查研究和实验研究。从理论上讲，这项研究将开发模型来解释信息传播的潜在障碍。可能的可能性包括：社会规范污蔑与能力低下相关的提问；与传递后来与糟糕结果相关的信息相关的非正式制裁，这反过来会阻止提供建议；信息效率高的网络可能是公共产品，因此个人没有提供这些产品的动机。在理论发展的基础上，该项目将进行一项调查，以获得关于印度农村信息共享做法的叙述性和量化数据。最后，PI将进行一系列现场实验，以测试哪些摩擦是最重要的。这项拟议的研究具有新颖性，因为它首次深入分析了阻碍使用不同方法共享信息的各种摩擦。除了对信息经济学的贡献外，这项研究还有几个更广泛的影响。这些结果适用于广泛的领域，包括技术采用、卫生、政治、商业管理实践、国际贸易和社会学，仅举几例。

Obstacles to Information Sharing in NetworksAbstractWebs of relationships among individuals, or social networks, help to transmit important information about health care, education, and work, as well as new technologies, laws, and political ideas. Communities where formal institutions are not strong are especially reliant on these networks to carry important information. Yet sometimes these channels fail, and it is not well-understood why they fail. This research investigates the obstacles to information flows in informal networks, with the aim of improving communication, which is an important input into productivity, competitiveness, and growth. Using theory and data, it will investigate the main factors preventing people in informal networks from sharing information, and examine ways to improve information-sharing. The results of this research will help us understand the role of social networks in information transmission but, more importantly, show how networks can be leveraged to spread information about technology, public health, education, the law, politics, and civic life for the betterment of societies. The results of this research are applicable in several fields; they have implications for the developed as well as the developing world.This research investigates the main frictions that impede effective information transmission and deter people from benefitting from it. The research has three dimensions: theoretical, survey-based, and experimental. Theoretically, the research will develop models to explain potential obstacles to information transmission. Possibilities include social norms that stigmatize asking questions that are correlated with low ability; informal sanctions associated with passing along information that is later associated with bad outcomes, which in turn deter giving advice; and the possibility that informationally efficient networks are public goods and therefore individuals have no incentives to provide them. Based on the theoretical development, the project will conduct a survey to elicit both narrative and quantitative data on information sharing practices in rural India. Finally, the PIs will conduct a series of field experiments designed to test which of the frictions are most important. The proposed research is novel in the sense that it is the first to provide an in-depth analysis of various frictions that impede information sharing using a methodologically diverse approach. The research has several broader impacts apart from its contribution to the economics of information. The results are applicable in a wide variety of areas including technology adoption, health, politics, business management practices, international trade, and sociology, just to mention a few.