Finding a satisfactory way to represent individual decisions presents a challenge for economic models of social networks. I introduce a new solution concept, local Bayesian equilibrium, that allows us to capture strategic effects while gaining some of the tractability of simpler heurisitcs. The...

Behaviors and information often spread via person-to-person diffusion. This paper highlights how diffusion processes can facilitate coordination. I study contagion in a discrete network with Bayesian players. In addition to characterizing the extent and rate of adoption, we uncover a new effect:...

In his discussion of minimax decision rules, Savage (1954, p. 170) presents an example purporting to show that minimax applied to negative expected utility (referred to by Savage as 'negative income') is an inadequate decision criterion for statistics; he suggests the application of a minimax...

I propose a simple theory of strategic network formation that accounts for many empirical patterns. Three elements forge the theory: i) local linking benefits, ii) convex linking costs, and iii) swap-proofness, a new refinement of pairwise stability. If players agree about who is a more...

Centrality measures play a key role in network analysis. This paper studies the extent to which these measures share a common structure. In contrast with prior work, I take an ordinal approach, considering preorders on the vertex set of a graph that satisfy an intuitive axiom called recursive...

Disagreement, including on matters of fact, is a pervasive phenomenon, yet this is incompatible with existing work on social learning. I propose a model of information processing with two key features: (i) the agent encounters false information, and (ii) the agent cannot distinguish true...

We can often predict the behavior of those closest to us more accurately than that of complete strangers, yet we routinely engage in strategic situations with both: our social network impacts our strategic knowledge. Peer-confirming equilibrium describes the behavioral consequences of this...