Social and Economic Networks

Catalog description

Individuals are embedded in a network of relationships used to exchange information and favors, access economic opportunities and share risk. The structure of these relationships determine the individual's opportunities and the aggregate outcomes of social and economic systems. The course will discuss the typical properties of network structures (e.g. 6-degrees of separation, clustering, homophily and segregation), how network ties are formed and how agents interact through these ties. Students will learn about a wide range of applications, including the spread of diseases, fashions and political opinion; financial networks; networks in organizations and the labor market; online social networks, etc. Familiarity with quantitative reasoning and calculus is expected, and some degree of familiarity with programming (especially in Python) will be an advantage, though not a prerequisite. 001795