ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory

The Evolution of Networks and Homophily

Friday, May 6, 2022 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Online Location, Zoom Meeting

The ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory of the Spring 2022 semester will feature:

Leeat Yariv

Princeton University

The Evolution of Networks and Homophily

 

Please contact ICES Office Manager (sbahabib@gmu.edu) for Zoom link.

 

Abstract

We examine friendships and study partnerships among university students over several years. The density of connections, as well as the strong ethnic and gender homophily we observe, increase over time. We also see assortativity in homophily. Using a large set of incentivized behavioral elicitations, we find weaker but still significant homophily over malleable traits---over risk preferences, altruism, sleep, video game playing, GPA, etc.---that emerges with a delay. We find limited evidence of assimilation of behaviors. We also document the impact of network connections on changes in GPA. GPA gains are most pronounced across connected students who are both female or of different ethnicity.

 

For more information about the Seminar Series, please visit the Seminar Schedule homepage.