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A Practical Approach to Social Learning

Amir Ban, Moran Koren

arXiv 25 Feb 2020 · Theoretical Economics

arXiv:2002.11017 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Models of social learning feature either binary signals or abstract signal structures often deprived of micro-foundations. Both models are limited when analyzing interim results or performing empirical analysis. We present a method of generating signal structures which are richer than the binary model, yet are tractable enough to perform simulations and empirical analysis. We demonstrate the method's usability by revisiting two classical papers: (1) we discuss the economic significance of unbounded signals Smith and Sorensen (2000); (2) we use experimental data from Anderson and Holt (1997) to perform econometric analysis. Additionally, we provide a necessary and sufficient condition for the occurrence of action cascades.

Citation extraction

13
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46
in-text mentions
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appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 97% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1B Y Lones Smith and Peter Srensen (2000) Pathological Outcomes of Observational Learning1.000104100%
2By Lisa R Anderson and Charles A Holt (1997) Information Cascades in the Laboratory1.00083100%
3Abhijit V. Av Banerjee (1992) A Simple Model of Herd Behavior1.00064100%
4Sushil Bikhchandani, David Hirshleifer, and Ivo Welch (1992) A theory of fads, fashion, custom, and cultural change as informational cascades1.00064100%
5Helios Herrera and Johannes Hörner (2012) A Necesssary and Sufficient Condition for Information Cascades0.87472100%
6Juanjuan Zhang (2010) The Sound of Silence: Observational Learning in the U.S. Kidney Market0.51121100%
7Daron Acemoglu, Asuman Ozdaglar, and Ali Parandehgheibi (2010) Spread of Misinformation in Social0.40511100%
8Itai Arieli and Manuel Mueller-Frank (2019) Multidimensional Social Learning0.40511100%
9Richard W. Evans (2018) Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) Estimation, 20180.40511100%
10Erik Eyster, Andrea Galeotti, Navin Kartik, and Matthew Rabin (2014) Congested observational learning0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 13 scored citations.