2007/09 | LEM Working Paper Series | |
Dynamic Models of Segregation in Small-World Networks |
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Giorgio Fagiolo, Marco Valente, Nicolaas J. Vriend |
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Keywords | ||
Spatial proximity model, Social segregation, Schelling, Proximity preferences, Social networks,
Small worlds, Scale-free networks,Best-response dynamics.
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JEL Classifications | ||
C72, C73, D62
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Abstract | ||
Schelling (1969, 1971a,b, 1978) considered a simple proximity model of segregation where
individual agents only care about the types of people living in their own local geographical
neighborhood, the spatial structure being represented by one- or two-dimensional lattices.
In this paper, we argue that segregation might occur not only in the geographical space,
but also in social environments. Furthermore, recent empirical studies have documented
that social interaction structures are well-described by small-world networks. We gen-
eralize Schelling's model by allowing agents to interact in small-world networks instead
of regular lattices. We study two alternative dynamic models where agents can decide
to move either arbitrarily far away (global model) or are bound to choose an alternative
location in their social neighborhood (local model). Our main result is that the system
attains levels of segregation that are in line with those reached in the lattice-based spatial
proximity model. Thus, Schelling's original results seem to be robust to the structural
properties of the network.
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