Social Learning

Social interactions play an important role in our lives, particularly in the formation and spread of beliefs and opinions. We often make decisions using both our own information and the behavior we observe from our neighbors, friends, and colleagues. The examples of such interactions have footprints in many real-life situations, including political decisions, consumption choices, and information acquisition processes.

Given the omnipresence of social interactions, social scientists have long been interested in understanding social learning processes and properties of information aggregation by large groups of individuals. Models of social learning have served as an explanation for a variety of economic phenomena, such as herding, bubbles and crashes in financial markets, optimal contracting, and technology adoption. CTESS scholars continue the study of the mechanisms underlying social learning processes as shaped by a variety of institutions, information structures, and the mechanics of the interactions between agents.

The following are a sampling of publications in this field by scholars affiliated with CTESS:

• "Rational groupthink" (2021) by Omer Tamuz, Elchanan Mossel, Matan Harel and Philipp Strack, Quarterly Journal of Economics.
• "The Speed of Sequential Asymptotic Learning" (2018) by Wade Hann-Caruthers, Vadim Martynov, and Omer Tamuz, Journal of Economic Theory.
• "An Experimental Study of Repeated Social Learning" (2022) by Marina Agranov, Gabriel Lopez-Moctezuma, Philipp Strack, and Omer Tamuz.