IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mse/cesdoc/18035.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Seqential competition and the strategic origins of preferential attachment

Author

Abstract

There exists a wide gap between the predictions of strategic models of network formation and empirical observations of the characteristics of socio-economic networks. Empirical observations underline a complex structure characterized by fat-tailed degree distribution, short average distance, large clustering coefficient and positive assortativity. Game theoretic models offer a detailed representation of individuals' incentives but they predict the emergence of much simpler structures than these observed empirically. Random network formation processes, such as preferential attachment, provide a much better fit to empirical observations but generally lack micro-foundations. in order to bridge this gap, we propose to model network formation as extensive games and investigate under which conditions equilibria of these games are observationally equivalent with random network formation process. In particular, we introduce a class of games in which players compete with their predecessors and their successors for the utility induced by the links they form with another node in the network. Such sequential competition games can represent a number of strategic economic interactions such as oligopolistic competition in supply networks or diffusion of influence in opinion networks. we show that the focal equilibrium that emerge in this setting is one where players use probability distributions with full support and target the whole network with probabilities inversely proportional to the utility of each node. Notably, when the utility of a node is inversely proportional to its degree, equilibrium play induces a preferential attachment process

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Mandel & Xavier Venel, 2018. "Seqential competition and the strategic origins of preferential attachment," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 18035, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
  • Handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:18035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://mse.univ-paris1.fr/pub/mse/CES2018/18035.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bramoullé, Yann & Currarini, Sergio & Jackson, Matthew O. & Pin, Paolo & Rogers, Brian W., 2012. "Homophily and long-run integration in social networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(5), pages 1754-1786.
    2. Christophe Bravard & Sudipta Sarangi & PHILIPP MÖHLMEIER & AGNIESZKA RUSINOWSKA & EMILY TANIMURA, 2016. "A Degree-Distance-Based Connections Model with Negative and Positive Externalities," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(2), pages 168-192, April.
    3. Thomas Chaney, 2014. "The Network Structure of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3600-3634, November.
    4. Page, Frank Jr. & Wooders, Myrna H. & Kamat, Samir, 2005. "Networks and farsighted stability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 257-269, February.
    5. Dutta, Bhaskar & Ghosal, Sayantan & Ray, Debraj, 2005. "Farsighted network formation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 143-164, June.
    6. Yann Bramoullé & Dunia López-Pintado & Sanjeev Goyal & Fernando Vega-Redondo, 2004. "Network formation and anti-coordination games," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 33(1), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Coralio Ballester & Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Yves Zenou, 2006. "Who's Who in Networks. Wanted: The Key Player," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1403-1417, September.
    8. Jackson, Matthew O. & Wolinsky, Asher, 1996. "A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 44-74, October.
    9. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques & Mauleon, Ana & Vannetelbosch, Vincent, 2009. "Farsightedly stable networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 526-541, November.
    10. , D. & Tessone, Claudio J. & ,, 2014. "Nestedness in networks: A theoretical model and some applications," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), September.
    11. Michel Grabisch & Antoine Mandel & Agnieszka Rusinowska & Emily Tanimura, 2015. "Strategic influence in social networks," Post-Print hal-01158168, HAL.
    12. Daron Acemoglu & Munther A. Dahleh & Ilan Lobel & Asuman Ozdaglar, 2011. "Bayesian Learning in Social Networks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(4), pages 1201-1236.
    13. Erzo G. J. Luttmer, 2011. "On the Mechanics of Firm Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(3), pages 1042-1068.
    14. Venkatesh Bala & Sanjeev Goyal, 2000. "A Noncooperative Model of Network Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1181-1230, September.
    15. Thomas Chaney, 2014. "The Network Structure of International Trade," SciencePo Working papers hal-03579668, HAL.
    16. Philipp Moehlmeier & Agnieszka Rusinowska & Emily Tanimura, 2016. "A degree-distance-based connections model with negative and positive externalities," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01301736, HAL.
    17. Kostas Bimpikis & Asuman Ozdaglar & Ercan Yildiz, 2016. "Competitive Targeted Advertising Over Networks," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 705-720, June.
    18. Mayer, Adalbert & Puller, Steven L., 2008. "The old boy (and girl) network: Social network formation on university campuses," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 329-347, February.
    19. repec:hal:pseose:hal-01387467 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7an8r1ubqs93caeqs80puld0tp is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers, 2007. "Meeting Strangers and Friends of Friends: How Random Are Social Networks?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 890-915, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chenghong Luo & Ana Mauleon & Vincent Vannetelbosch, 2021. "Network formation with myopic and farsighted players," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(4), pages 1283-1317, June.
    2. , David, 2016. "The formation of networks with local spillovers and limited observability," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), September.
    3. Jackson, Matthew O. & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Games on Networks," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    4. Foerster, Manuel & Mauleon, Ana & Vannetelbosch, Vincent J., 2021. "Shadow links," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
      • FOERSTER Manuel, & MAULEON Ana, & VANNETELBOSCH Vincent,, 2018. "Shadow links," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2018030, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
      • Foerster, Manuel & Mauleon, Ana & Vannetelbosch, Vincent, 2021. "Shadow links," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3171, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Hellmann, Tim & Staudigl, Mathias, 2014. "Evolution of social networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(3), pages 583-596.
    6. Mariya Teteryatnikova & James Tremewan, 2020. "Myopic and farsighted stability in network formation games: an experimental study," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(4), pages 987-1021, June.
    7. Yangbo Song & Mihaela Schaar, 2020. "Dynamic network formation with foresighted agents," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 49(2), pages 345-384, June.
    8. Joost Vandenbossche & Thomas Demuynck, 2013. "Network Formation with Heterogeneous Agents and Absolute Friction," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 23-45, June.
    9. Kirchsteiger, Georg & Mantovani, Marco & Mauleon, Ana & Vannetelbosch, Vincent, 2016. "Limited farsightedness in network formation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 97-120.
    10. Foerster, Manuel, 2019. "Dynamics of strategic information transmission in social networks," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), January.
    11. Gilles, Robert P. & Chakrabarti, Subhadip & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2012. "Nash equilibria of network formation games under consent," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 159-165.
    12. Marco Mantovani & Georg Kirchsteiger & Ana Mauleon & Vincent Vannetelbosch, 2011. "Myopic or Farsighted? An Experiment on Network Formation," Working Papers 2011.45, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Youngsub Chun & Sunghoon Hong & Bong Chan Koh, 2017. "Population invariance properties of social and economic networks," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 13(3), pages 255-267, September.
    14. Alex Centeno, 2022. "A Structural Model for Detecting Communities in Networks," Papers 2209.08380, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    15. Yangbo Song & Mihaela Schaar, 2015. "Dynamic network formation with incomplete information," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 59(2), pages 301-331, June.
    16. Mariya Teteryatnikova & James Tremewan, 2015. "Stability in Network Formation Games with Streams of Payoffs: An Experimental Study," Vienna Economics Papers 1508, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    17. Mariya Teteryatnikova, 2015. "Cautious Farsighted Stability in Network Formation Games with Streams of Payoffs," Vienna Economics Papers 1509, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    18. , D. & Tessone, Claudio J. & ,, 2014. "Nestedness in networks: A theoretical model and some applications," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), September.
    19. Mariya Teteryatnikova, 2021. "Cautious farsighted stability in network formation games with streams of payoffs," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 50(4), pages 829-865, December.
    20. Pongou, Roland & Serrano, Roberto, 2016. "Volume of trade and dynamic network formation in two-sided economies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 147-163.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Socio-economic networks; endogenous network formation; game theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:18035. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lucie Label (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cenp1fr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.