Jackson M.O. Social and Economic Networks

Издательство Princeton University Press, 2008, -648 pp.This book provides an overview and synthesis of models and techniques for analyzing social and economic networks. This is meant to serve both as a resource for researchers and a text on the subject for graduate students. The focus is primarily on the modeling of and theory behind the structure, formation, and implications of social networks. Statistical and experimental analyses of networks are also discussed throughout, especially when they help set the stage for issues to be investigated. The main emphasis is on providing a foundation for analyzing and understanding social and economic networks.
The organization of the book can be split into four main parts. The first part introduces network analysis and provides some background on what is known about various networks, how they are measured and useful ways of representing them. The second part presents some of the models that have been used to understand how networks are formed. This draws from two very different perspectives: random graph models, where there is some stochastic process which governs the development of the links in a network, as well as strategic models of network formation, where the development of links is based on costs and benefits and game theoretic techniques are used. These approaches to modeling provide different insights into networks, how they are formed, and why the exhibit certain characteristics. The third main part of the book looks at the implications of network structure. Much of the interest in networks has to do with the fact that their structure is an important determinant of how societies and economies function. This part examines how network models are used to predict the spread of disease, the dissemination of information, the choice of behavior by people, and how markets function. The final part of the book covers empirical analyses of networks and methods of identifying social interaction.Representing and Measuring Networks
Empirical Background on Social and Economic Networks
Random Graph-Based Models of Networks
Growing Random Networks
Strategic Network Formation
Diffusion through Networks
Learning and Networks
Decisions, Behavior, and Games on Networks
Networked Markets
Game-Theoretic Modeling of Network Formation
Allocation Rules, Networks, and Cooperative Games
Observing and Measuring Social Interaction
Afterword