The dynamics of continuous cultural traits in social networks
The dynamics of continuous cultural traits in social networks
We consider an overlapping generations model where continuous cultural traits are transmitted from an adult generation to the children. A weighted social network describes how children are influenced not only by their parents but also by other role models within the society. Parents can invest into the purposeful socialization of their children by strategically displaying a cultural trait (which need not coincide with their true cultural trait). We observe a cultural substitution effect when parents choose their behavior optimally. Based on Nash equilibrium behavior, we then study the dynamics of cultural traits throughout generations. These converge if parent's influence on their children is large enough compared to the social environment's influence. Under convergent dynamics, closed subgroups fully assimilate, while heterogeneous traits prevail in the other groups. Speed of convergence is low when parents' incentives to socialize their children to the own trait are high.
Cultural transmission, Continuous cultural traits, Social networks, Persistence of cultural traits, Opinion dynamics
274-309
Buechel, Berno
41ca059d-2d6d-487e-9887-bc0fa5c364a3
Hellmann, Tim
e03b4edd-3010-4f6d-831e-86e4b3d6cbe0
Pichler, Michael
32b9b94f-b558-4fd5-b939-67a288fa3e9b
November 2014
Buechel, Berno
41ca059d-2d6d-487e-9887-bc0fa5c364a3
Hellmann, Tim
e03b4edd-3010-4f6d-831e-86e4b3d6cbe0
Pichler, Michael
32b9b94f-b558-4fd5-b939-67a288fa3e9b
Buechel, Berno, Hellmann, Tim and Pichler, Michael
(2014)
The dynamics of continuous cultural traits in social networks.
Journal of Economic Theory, 154, .
(doi:10.1016/j.jet.2014.09.008).
Abstract
We consider an overlapping generations model where continuous cultural traits are transmitted from an adult generation to the children. A weighted social network describes how children are influenced not only by their parents but also by other role models within the society. Parents can invest into the purposeful socialization of their children by strategically displaying a cultural trait (which need not coincide with their true cultural trait). We observe a cultural substitution effect when parents choose their behavior optimally. Based on Nash equilibrium behavior, we then study the dynamics of cultural traits throughout generations. These converge if parent's influence on their children is large enough compared to the social environment's influence. Under convergent dynamics, closed subgroups fully assimilate, while heterogeneous traits prevail in the other groups. Speed of convergence is low when parents' incentives to socialize their children to the own trait are high.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 15 September 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 October 2014
Published date: November 2014
Keywords:
Cultural transmission, Continuous cultural traits, Social networks, Persistence of cultural traits, Opinion dynamics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 435531
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/435531
ISSN: 0022-0531
PURE UUID: 103ef138-acbf-4782-8d73-56d13beac214
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Date deposited: 08 Nov 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:54
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Author:
Berno Buechel
Author:
Michael Pichler
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