Spatial Interactions

Jun Sung Kim (), Eleonora Patacchini (), Pierre Picard and Yves Zenou
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Eleonora Patacchini: Cornell University

No 15376, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: This paper studies how the strength of social ties are affected by the geographical location of other individuals and their social capital. We characterize the equilibrium in terms of both social interactions and social capital. We show that lower travel costs increase not only the interaction frequency but also the social capital for all agents. We also show that the equilibrium frequency of interactions is lower than the efficient one. Using a unique geo-coded dataset of friendship networks among adolescents in the United States, we structurally estimate the model and show that, indeed, agents socially interact less than that at the first best optimum. Our policy analysis suggests that, at the same cost, subsidizing social interactions yields a higher total welfare than subsidizing transportation costs.

Keywords: structural estimation; location; social networks; policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D85 R1 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-gth, nep-net and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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Published - published in: Quantitative Economics, 2023, 14 (4), 1295-1335

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Related works:
Journal Article: Spatial interactions (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15376

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