Conformism and Self-Selection in Social Networks

Vincent Boucher

Cahiers de recherche from Centre de recherche sur les risques, les enjeux économiques, et les politiques publiques

Abstract: I present a model of conformism in social networks that incorporates both peer effects and self-selection. I find that equilibrium behaviors are linked through the Laplacian matrix of the equilibrium network. I show that conformism has positive social value and that social welfare can be bounded by network centrality and connectivity measures. I apply the model using empirical data on high school student participation in extracurricular activities. I find that the local effects of conformism (i.e. endogenous peer effect for a fixed network structure) range from 7.5% to 45%, depending on the number of peers that an individual has. Simulations show that the optimal policies of an inequality-averse policy-maker change in relation to the size of a school. Small schools should encourage shy students to integrate more with other students, while large schools should focus on promoting role models within the school.

Keywords: Conformism; Peer effects; Network formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 C57 D85 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Conformism and self-selection in social networks (2016)
Working Paper: Conformism and Self-Selection in Social Networks (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lvl:crrecr:1402

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