Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/53219 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
Nota di Lavoro No. 35.2009
Publisher: 
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Milano
Abstract: 
We examine how three different communication processes operating through social networks are affected by homophily - the tendency of individuals to associate with others similar to themselves. Homophily has no effect if messages are broadcast or sent via shortest paths; only connection density matters. In contrast, homophily substantially slows learning based on repeated averaging of neighbors' information and Markovian diffusion processes such as the Google random surfer model. Indeed, the latter processes are strongly affected by homophily but completely independent of connection density, provided this density exceeds a low threshold. We obtain these results by establishing new results on the spectra of large random graphs and relating the spectra to homophily. We conclude by checking the theoretical predictions using observed high school friendship networks from the Adolescent Health dataset.
Subjects: 
Networks
Learning
Diffusion
Homophily
Friendships
Social Networks
Random Graphs
Mixing Time
Convergence
Speed of Learning
Speed of Convergence
JEL: 
D83
D85
I21
J15
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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