Goyal, S.: Connections: an introduction to the economics of networks

Economic interaction does not take place in vacuo; rather, it is embedded in social structures. This implies, first, that different social structures may determine different economic outcomes, ceteris paribus; and second that, since being in a certain social position may be economically attractive, social links are endogenously formed to exploit positional advantages. The economic approach to social networks, which has been an active field of research for the last ten-fifteen years, explores the relevance of these aspects for economic analysis. SanjeevGoyal, one of the pioneers of this approach, presents in “Connections” a state-of-the-art review of what we have learned so far, with particular attention to his own contributions, but also with a careful presentation and discussion of other scholars’ findings.