Diffusion and contagion in networks with heterogeneous agents and homophily

Matthew Jackson and Dunia López-Pintado ()
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Dunia López-Pintado: Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide

No 11.14, Working Papers from Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study how a behavior (an idea, buying a product, having a disease, adopting a cultural fad or a technology) spreads among agents in an a social network that exhibits segregation or homophily (the tendency of agents to associate with others similar to themselves). Individuals are distinguished by their types (e.g., race, gender, age, wealth, religion, profession, etc.) which, together with biased interaction patterns, induce heterogeneous rates of adoption. We identify the conditions under which a behavior diffuses and becomes persistent in the population. These conditions relate to the level of homophily in a society, the underlying proclivities of various types for adoption or infection, as well as how each type interacts with its own type. In particular, we show that homophily can facilitate diffusion from a small initial seed of adopters.

Keywords: Diffusion; Homophily; Segregation; Social Networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C45 C70 C73 D83 D85 L15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2011-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-evo, nep-gth, nep-net and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://www.upo.es/serv/bib/wps/econ1114.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Diffusion and contagion in networks with heterogeneous agents and homophily (2013)
Working Paper: Diffusion and contagion in networks with heterogeneous agents and homophily (2013)
Working Paper: Diffusion and contagion in networks with heterogeneous agents and homophily (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pab:wpaper:11.14

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