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Publikasjon

Who Knows? Information Access and Endogenous Network Formation

Forfattere: Derksen, Laura, Pedro CL Souza
Publisert: 2025
Sammendrag: Networks play a key role in information diffusion. Yet, the impact of information on network formation is not well understood. We conducted a randomized experiment in Malawian boarding secondary schools, providing one fifth of students with exclusive access to an online information source. Using a complete panel of detailed network data, we show that changes in information access affect network structure, as students form and maintain strategic links. At the endline, treated students are more well-connected than control students. We calibrate and simulate a model of strategic network formation to demonstrate implications for network-based targeting, information diffusion, academic welfare and inequality.
Referanse: Derksen, Laura, Pedro CL Souza, 2025, «Who Knows? Information Access and Endogenous Network Formation», American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Forthcoming
Keywords: Network centrality, Social network formation, Information technology, Development, Randomized experiment
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