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uchicago-computation-workshop / steven_durlauf

Repository for Steven Durlauf's presentation at the CSS Workshop (2/28/2019)
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Connections between graph theory and social interaction #32

Open jsgenan opened 5 years ago

jsgenan commented 5 years ago

Hi Professor Durlauf! Thanks for bringing us such a magnificent paper. I was a bit curious about the background of the model. You mentioned that some part is connected to graph theory in Computer Science. What insights have you brought from graph into the model? And why is that helpful?

sdurlauf commented 5 years ago

I have not used much graph theory in my own work, though basic concepts appear. By way of background, social networks are graphs, i.e. actors=vertices and connections between them=edges. Random graph theory has been used to elucidate dynamics of network formation. Matt Jackson's book Social and Economic Networks is a great introduction. Relative to identification, the point I wanted to make is that there are different intensities of interactions between individuals, while social networks have to do with presence of connections or not. As such, they don't fully characterize social structure.