{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49714"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49714","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Social networks in industrial organization","abstract":"Chapter 1 studies the optimal strategies of a monopolist selling a good to consumers who engage in word of mouth communication. The monopolist uses the price it charges to influence both the proportion of the population that is willing to purchase the good and the pattern of communication that takes place within the social network. I find a number of results: (i) demand is more elastic in the presence of word of mouth; (ii) the monopolist reduces the price to induce additional word of mouth for regular goods, however for goods whose valuation is greater for well connected individuals the price may, in fact, be greater; (iii) the optimal pattern of diffusion involves introductory prices which vary up and down; and (iv) exclusive (high priced) products will optimally target advertising towards individuals with many friends whereas common (low priced) products will target individuals with fewer friends. Chapter 2 presents a model of friendship formation in a social network. During each period a new player enters the social network, this player searches for and forms friendships with the existing population and all individuals play a prisoner's dilemma game with each of their friends. The set of friendships a player forms reveals some information to a friend about how likely she is to subsequently cooperate. Cooperative types are able to separate themselves from uncooperative types by becoming friends with people who know one another.","abstract_html":"Chapter 1 studies the optimal strategies of a monopolist selling a good to consumers who engage in word of mouth communication. The monopolist uses the price it charges to influence both the proportion of the population that is willing to purchase the good and the pattern of communication that takes place within the social network. I find a number of results: (i) demand is more elastic in the presence of word of mouth; (ii) the monopolist reduces the price to induce additional word of mouth for regular goods, however for goods whose valuation is greater for well connected individuals the price may, in fact, be greater; (iii) the optimal pattern of diffusion involves introductory prices which vary up and down; and (iv) exclusive (high priced) products will optimally target advertising towards individuals with many friends whereas common (low priced) products will target individuals with fewer friends. Chapter 2 presents a model of friendship formation in a social network. During each period a new player enters the social network, this player searches for and forms friendships with the existing population and all individuals play a prisoner's dilemma game with each of their friends. The set of friendships a player forms reveals some information to a friend about how likely she is to subsequently cooperate. Cooperative types are able to separate themselves from uncooperative types by becoming friends with people who know one another.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Campbell, Arthur (Arthur Donald)"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Glenn Ellison and Muhamet Yildiz."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009","date_published":"2009","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:13Z","subjects":["Economics."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49714","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Glenn Ellison and Muhamet Yildiz."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Campbell, Arthur (Arthur Donald)"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2009-11-06T16:23:51Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2009-11-06T16:23:51Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2009"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Economics."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49714"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2009.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-145)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Chapter 1 studies the optimal strategies of a monopolist selling a good to consumers who engage in word of mouth communication. The monopolist uses the price it charges to influence both the proportion of the population that is willing to purchase the good and the pattern of communication that takes place within the social network. I find a number of results: (i) demand is more elastic in the presence of word of mouth; (ii) the monopolist reduces the price to induce additional word of mouth for regular goods, however for goods whose valuation is greater for well connected individuals the price may, in fact, be greater; (iii) the optimal pattern of diffusion involves introductory prices which vary up and down; and (iv) exclusive (high priced) products will optimally target advertising towards individuals with many friends whereas common (low priced) products will target individuals with fewer friends. Chapter 2 presents a model of friendship formation in a social network. During each period a new player enters the social network, this player searches for and forms friendships with the existing population and all individuals play a prisoner's dilemma game with each of their friends. The set of friendships a player forms reveals some information to a friend about how likely she is to subsequently cooperate. Cooperative types are able to separate themselves from uncooperative types by becoming friends with people who know one another.","(cont.) The threat of communication amongst people who know one another prevents an uncooperative type mimicking a cooperative type. Chapter 3 analyzes the effects of policies which support electricity generation from intermittent technologies (wind, solar). I find that intermittent generation is a substitute for baseload technologies but may be complementary or substitutable for peaking/intermediate technologies. I characterize the long run implications of this for carbon emissions."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Social networks in industrial organization"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Glenn Ellison and Muhamet Yildiz."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics."],"dc:creator":["Campbell, Arthur (Arthur Donald)"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2009-11-06T16:23:51Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-11-06T16:23:51Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2009"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2009.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-145)."],"dc:description.abstract":["Chapter 1 studies the optimal strategies of a monopolist selling a good to consumers who engage in word of mouth communication. The monopolist uses the price it charges to influence both the proportion of the population that is willing to purchase the good and the pattern of communication that takes place within the social network. I find a number of results: (i) demand is more elastic in the presence of word of mouth; (ii) the monopolist reduces the price to induce additional word of mouth for regular goods, however for goods whose valuation is greater for well connected individuals the price may, in fact, be greater; (iii) the optimal pattern of diffusion involves introductory prices which vary up and down; and (iv) exclusive (high priced) products will optimally target advertising towards individuals with many friends whereas common (low priced) products will target individuals with fewer friends. Chapter 2 presents a model of friendship formation in a social network. During each period a new player enters the social network, this player searches for and forms friendships with the existing population and all individuals play a prisoner's dilemma game with each of their friends. The set of friendships a player forms reveals some information to a friend about how likely she is to subsequently cooperate. Cooperative types are able to separate themselves from uncooperative types by becoming friends with people who know one another.","(cont.) The threat of communication amongst people who know one another prevents an uncooperative type mimicking a cooperative type. Chapter 3 analyzes the effects of policies which support electricity generation from intermittent technologies (wind, solar). I find that intermittent generation is a substitute for baseload technologies but may be complementary or substitutable for peaking/intermediate technologies. I characterize the long run implications of this for carbon emissions."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49714"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Economics."],"dc:title":["Social networks in industrial organization"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:13Z"}