Efficiency of network structures: The needle in the haystack

Nicolas Carayol, Pascale Roux and Murat Yildizoglu

Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) from Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales

Abstract: The modelling of networks formation has recently became the object of an increasing interest in economics. One of the important issues raised in this literature is the one of networks efficiency. Nevertheless, for non trivial payoff functions, searching for efficient network structures turns out to be a very difficult analytical problem as well as a huge computational task, even for a relatively small number of agents. In this paper, we explore the possibility of using genetic algorithms (GA) techniques for identifying efficient network structures, because the GA have proved their power as a tool for solving complex optimization problems. The robustness of this method in predicting optimal network structures is tested on two simple stylized models introduced by Jackson and Wolinski (1996), for which the efficient networks are known over the whole state space of parameter values.

Keywords: Networks; Optimal network structure; Efficiency; Genetic Algorithms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C61 D85 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Efficiency of Network Structures: The Needle in the Haystack (2005)
Working Paper: Efficiency of Network Structures: The Needle in the Haystack (2005)
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