37: Networks formation to assist decision making

Author(s): David Goldbaum, Economics Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Date of publication: April 2016 

Working paper number: 37

Abstract: This paper examines network formation among a connected population with a preference for conformity and leadership. Agents build stable personal relationships to achieve coordinated actions. The network serves as a repository of collective experiences so that cooperation can emerge from simple, myopic, self-serving adaptation to recent events despite the competing impulses of conformity and leadership and despite limiting individuals to only local information. Computational analysis reveals how behavioral tendencies impact network formation and identifies locally stable disequilibrium structures.

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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.