Social Learning in Economics

Markus Mobius () and Tanya Rosenblat
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Markus Mobius: Microsoft Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

Annual Review of Economics, 2014, vol. 6, issue 1, 827-847

Abstract: Social learning is a rapidly growing field for empirical and theoretical research in economics. We encounter social learning in many economically important phenomena, such as the adoption of new products and technologies or job search in labor markets. We review the existing empirical and theoretical literatures and argue that they have evolved largely independently of each other. This suggests several directions for future research that can help bridge the gap between both literatures. For example, the theory literature has come up with several models of social learning, ranging from naïve DeGroot models to sophisticated Bayesian models whose assumptions and predictions need to be empirically tested. Alternatively, empiricists have often observed that social learning is more localized than existing theory models assume, and that information can decay along a transmission path. Incorporating these findings into our models might require theorists to look beyond asymptotic convergence in social learning.

Keywords: naïve learning; rational learning; observational learning; herding; streams model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C93 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

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