Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/119854 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
LEM Working Paper Series No. 2015/11
Publisher: 
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Pisa
Abstract: 
This paper investigates opinion dynamics and social influence 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 influence. 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.
Subjects: 
Social Networks
Learning
Social Influence
Bounded Rationality
JEL: 
D85
D83
A14
L14
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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