Networks and Economic Action

Catalog description

The sociological approach to the study of the economic action explores why and how social exchange in networks enable and guide economic life. The course addresses ongoing debates between economics and sociology in the study of economic action. Why do individuals trust and cooperate with strangers? Why do institutions matter in economic life? Why do social norms and networks enable entrepreneurs to innovate and found startups? What explains the emergence and growth of a high-technology regional knowledge economy? At the macro-level, the course explores the social dynamics of institutional change: the role of norms and networks in the emergence of modern capitalism in China and the rise of the technology-enabled knowledge economy in the United States.