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Diffusion and contagion in networks with heterogeneous agents and homophily

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2013

MATTHEW O. JACKSON  and
DUNIA LÓPEZ-PINTADO
MATTHEW O. JACKSON
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA; and CIFAR, Canada (e-mail: jacksonm@stanford.edu)
DUNIA LÓPEZ-PINTADO
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain and CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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Abstract

We study the diffusion of an idea, a product, a disease, a cultural fad, or a technology among agents in a social network that exhibits segregation or homophily (the tendency of agents to associate with others similar to themselves). Individuals are distinguished by their types—e.g., race, gender, age, wealth, religion, profession—which, together with biased interaction patterns, induce heterogeneous rates of adoption or infection. We identify the conditions under which a behavior or disease diffuses and becomes persistent in the population. These conditions relate to the level of homophily in a society and the underlying proclivities of various types for adoption or infection. In particular, we show that homophily can facilitate diffusion from a small initial seed of adopters.

Keywords

diffusionhomophilysegregationsocial networks
Type
Research Article
Information
Network Science , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 49 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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