Morphogenesis of Social Networks and Coexistence of Technologies

Frédéric Deroïan (1)

1 GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille

The aim of the article is to relate the formation of influence networks to the coexistence of technologies in the long run. In the spirit of Plouraboue et al. (1998), we postulate that potential adopters of a technology are situated in a social network. In our model, initial relations are partly negative and all the expected utilities are revised in parallel. In the case of an exogenous network, opinions can fluctuate endlessly. When agents reallocate their relationships, this reinforces trust in agents whose opinion is close to theirs. As a result of this process, the network stabilizes in the long run, generating diversity in expected utilities.

Mots clés: Social networks; Diffusion of innovations; Coexistence of technologies

Domaines: Economies et finances

Frédéric Deroïan. Morphogenesis of Social Networks and Coexistence of Technologies. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 2001, 10, pp.427-448. ⟨10.1080/10438590100000017⟩. ⟨halshs-00369734⟩