2015/11 | LEM Working Paper Series | ||||||||||||||||
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Boundedly Rational Opinion Dynamics in Social Networks: Does Indegree Matter? |
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Pietro Battiston and Luca Stanca |
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Keywords | |||||||||||||||||
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Social Networks, Learning, Social Influence, Bounded Rationality
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JEL Classifications | |||||||||||||||||
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D85, D83, A14, L14, Z13
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Abstract | |||||||||||||||||
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This paper investigates opinion dynamics and social in uence in
directed communication networks. We study the theoretical properties
of a boundedly rational model of opinion formation in which
individuals aggregate the information they receive from their
neighbors by using weights that are a function of neighbors'
indegree. We then present the results of a laboratory experiment
explicitly designed to test the causal effect of indegree on social in
uence. We find that the social influence of an agent is positively affected
by the number of individuals she listens to. When forming their
opinions, agents take into account the structure of their
communication network, although only to a limited extent.
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