Unstable diffusion in social networks
Teruyoshi Kobayashi,
Yoshitaka Ogisu and
Tomokatsu Onaga
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2023, vol. 146, issue C
Abstract:
How and to what extent will new activities spread through social ties? To answer this question, we present an analytical framework that allows us to describe the diffusion dynamics on complex networks more accurately than the conventional mean-field approach. Based on two classes of network games, we find that the spread of multiple activities is expressed as a saddle path, and thus, inherently unstable. In particular, when the two activities are sufficiently substitutable, either of them will dominate the other by chance even if they are equally attractive ex ante. We argue that, in environments where such symmetry-breaking occurs, any average-based approximation method may not correctly capture the Nash equilibrium — the steady state of an actual diffusion process.
Keywords: Social network; Diffusion; Coordination game; Mean-field method; Master equations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 D85 L14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165188922002640
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
Working Paper: Unstable diffusion in social networks (2021) 
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:146:y:2023:i:c:s0165188922002640
DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2022.104561
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control is currently edited by J. Bullard, C. Chiarella, H. Dawid, C. H. Hommes, P. Klein and C. Otrok
More articles in Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().