Matthew O. Jackson - Böcker

How do economists understand and measure normal social phenomena?

Identifying economic strains in activities such as learning, group formation, discrimination, and peer dynamics requires sophisticated data and tools as well as a grasp of prior scholarship. In this volume leading economists provide an authoritative summary of social choice economics, from norms and conventions to the exchange of discrete resources. Including both theoretical and empirical perspectives, their work provides the basis for models that can offer new insights in applied economic analyses.

Reviews the recent approaches that enable economists to separate influences of culture from those caused by economic and institutional environments Explores the recent willingness among economists to consider new arguments in the utility function Presumes that these investigations can eventually be translated into policies

Networks of relationships help determine the careers that people choose, the jobs they obtain, the products they buy, and how they vote. The many aspects of our lives that are governed by social networks make it critical to understand how they impact behavior, which network structures are likely to emerge in a society, and why we organize ourselves as we do. In Social and Economic Networks, Matthew Jackson offers a comprehensive introduction to social and economic networks, drawing on the latest findings in economics, sociology, computer science, physics, and mathematics. He provides empirical background on networks and the regularities that they exhibit, and discusses random graph-based models and strategic models of network formation. He helps readers to understand behavior in networked societies, with a detailed analysis of learning and diffusion in networks, decision making by individuals who are influenced by their social neighbors, game theory and markets on networks, and a host of related subjects. Jackson also describes the varied statistical and modeling techniques used to analyze social networks.Each chapter includes exercises to aid students in their analysis of how networks function. This book is an indispensable resource for students and researchers in economics, mathematics, physics, sociology, and business.

This comprehensive two-volume set brings together important contributions providing fundamental economic analyses of social networks and the central roles they play in many facets of our lives. The first volume consists of classic articles that model network formation and games on networks, as well as those on the identification of peer effects from an econometric viewpoint. The second volume provides empirical analyses of network effects on labor, education, development, crime and industrial organization, as well as some laboratory and field experiments.This set of indispensable papers, with an original introduction by the editors, will prove an essential tool to researchers, scholars and practitioners involved in this field.

It's not what you know, it's who you know. Or so the adage goes. Professor Matthew Jackson, world-leading researcher into social and economic networks, shows us why this is far truer than we'd like to believe.Based on his ground-breaking research, The Human Network reveals how our relationships in school, university, work and society have extraordinary implications throughout our lives and demonstrates that by understanding and taking advantage of these networks, we can boost our happiness, success and influence. But there are also wider lessons to be learnt. Drawing on concepts from economics, mathematics, sociology, and anthropology, Jackson reveals how the science of networks gives us a bold new framework to understand human interaction writ large - from banking crashes and viral marketing to racism and the spread of disease. Filled with counter-intuitive ideas that will enliven any dinner party - e.g. how can our popularity in school affect us for the rest of our lives? - The Human Network is a "big ideas" book that no one can afford to miss.

The organization of individuals into networks and groups is of fundamental importance in many social and economic interactions. Examples range from networks of personal contacts used to obtain information about job opportunities to the formation of trading partnerships, alliances, cartels, and federations. Much of our understanding of how and why such networks and groups form, and the precise way in which the network or groups structure affects outcomes of social and economic interaction, is relatively new. This volume collects some of the central papers in this recent literature, which have made important progress on this topic.

What a wonderful occasion it is to be celebrating 65 years of Hugo Sonnenschein! Given his many contributions to economic research and academia more broadly, there is much to celebrate. This volume, presented to Hugo at a confer­ ence in his honor at the University of Chicago in October 2005, highlights one of his deepest contributions. It is perhaps the hardest to detect from reading his bios and vita; but something that he is famous for among economists in general and economic theorists in particular. It is his incredible record as a mentor and advisor of students. In putting this volume together, we have collected papers from Hugo's students with the aim of demonstrating his tremendous impact as an advisor. The papers span decades, with the earliest coming from his advisees in the first years of his career and the most recent coming in the last two years after his return to research and advising that followed his adventures as a university administrator. The con­ tributors include not only his graduate advisees, but also some of his undergraduate advisees and still others who did not have him as an advisor, but nonetheless con­ sider him a primary mentor in their training as economic theorists. Each paper is accompanied with a brief preface by the student that provides background on the paper and indicates Hugo's influence on its genesis.

The organization of individuals into networks and groups is of fundamental importance in many social and economic interactions. Examples range from networks of personal contacts used to obtain information about job opportunities to the formation of trading partnerships, alliances, cartels, and federations. Much of our understanding of how and why such networks and groups form, and the precise way in which the network or groups structure affects outcomes of social and economic interaction, is relatively new. This volume collects some of the central papers in this recent literature, which have made important progress on this topic.