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Heterogeneous Peer Effects with Endogenous Network Formation

Duong Trinh, Santiago Montoya-Blandón

arXiv 23 Jun 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2606.24850 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper introduces a new econometric framework for modeling social interactions with heterogeneous peer responses, addressing endogenous link formation. Our Selection-corrected Heterogeneous Spatial Autoregressive (SCHSAR) approach jointly models link formation and outcome determination. We incorporate a finite mixture structure to capture heterogeneity in peer effects and account for unobserved individual-specific factors driving both network formation and outcome equations, addressing network endogeneity for credible estimation of heterogeneous spillover effects. We propose a fully Bayesian data augmentation approach for estimation and inference, overcoming challenges posed to standard likelihood-based methods. A simulation study validates our approach. Our empirical application to an innovation network among U.S. firms reveals significant positive, yet heterogeneous, peer effects on corporate R&D investments, after accounting for endogenous network formation. The findings highlight varying firm behaviors in response to exogenous R&D policy shocks and and quantify firm-level direct and spillover effects, offering valuable insights for evidence-based and targeted policy design.

Citation extraction

69
references
89
in-text mentions
68
distinct cited
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self-citations
21,718
main-text words

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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
1Goldsmith-Pinkham, P., and Imbens, G. W (2013) Social networks and the identification of peer effects0.87452100%
2Cornwall, G. J., and Parent, O (2017) Embracing heterogeneity: The spatial autoregressive mixture model0.81142100%
3Hsieh, C.-S., and Lee, L. F (2016) A social interactions model with endogenous friendship formation and selectivity0.81142100%
4Ding, C., Estrada, J., and Montoya-Blandón, S (2023) Bayesian inference of network formation models with payoff externalities self0.73732100%
5Johnsson, I., and Moon, H. R (2021) Estimation of peer effects in endogenous social networks: Control function approach0.73732100%
6Frühwirth-Schnatter, S (2006) Finite mixture and markov switching models0.64422100%
7LeSage, J. P., and Chih, Y.-Y (2016) Interpreting heterogeneous coefficient spatial autoregressive panel models0.64422100%
8Andrieu, C., and Thoms, J (2008) A tutorial on adaptive MCMC0.5112250%
9Vihola, M (2022) Bayesian inference with adaptive markov chain monte carlo0.5112250%
10LeSage, J. P., and Chih, Y.-Y (2018) A bayesian spatial panel model with heterogeneous coefficients0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 68 scored citations.