Network Effects and Railroads
This is based on a few chapters of the biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by L.T.C. Rolt (ISBN 9780140117523). I checked it out from the rare books collection. Many examples of network effects given in textbooks are related to electronic communications, but a much less high-tech example of network effects can be found in the decisions […]
Negative Network Effects
In class so far, we’ve talked about network effects, and how they’ve led to the success of social networking sites like Facebook, or massive online shopping sites like Amazon. One of the reasons why Facebook is so successful is not because they have the best interface, UX, or moral character, it’s because they have the […]
Diffusion of Practices in an Academic Paper
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1386&context=researchbulletin In the last problem set (problem set 8), we reasoned about how a belief or practice diffuses through communities based on social connections. We simplified the study to the relative number of social connections that perform a certain practice without regard to any other factors. This academic paper, Acceptance and Diffusion of Hybrid Corn Seed […]
Celebrity Influence on Voters
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46123964 This article focuses on the impact of celebrity influence on voters. There are always celebrities who publicly support political candidates when elections come around, especially in the U.S. 2018 midterm election this past week. However, celebrity endorsements do not always work, as many of the candidates celebrities supported did not win. Beyoncé supported Democratic […]
Suicide and Social Contagion
Aalai, A. (2018, June 8). The Social Contagion of Suicide. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-first-impression/201806/the-social-contagion-suicide Aalai reflects on the recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, both occurring in close proximity, and how media coverage of the two deaths could lead to copycat suicides by at-risk members of society who hear the news. Aalai traces the observed […]
Why vitamin vaping is becoming popular for no reason at all
Link:https://www.thisisinsider.com/vitamin-vaping-latest-trend-health-experts-arent-convinced-2018-10 Vaping and juuling are the new trend nowadays for young adults and teens. It seems that companies are trying to hop onto the “vape bandwagon” and promote products that are vaporized and then inhaled, such as MONQ essential oils. Now, there’s another contender in the vape industry: vitamins from companies such as VitaminVape, Breathe, […]
How Information Cascades were responsible for the Financial Crisis
The 2007-08 financial crisis was the worst economic crisis that the world has faced after the Great Depression of the 1930s. It started off in 2007 with a subprime mortgage market crisis in the United States and eventually developed into a full-fledged international banking crisis. Looking back, we realize that the concept of information cascades […]
Initiative Q, the wrong information cascade for 2 million subscribers?
Original Article: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/8/18075816/initiative-q-email-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-paypal-saar-wilf Initiative Q is the new viral platform that has already received more than 2 million subscribers. This new project aims to create a new digital payment system by innovating a new electronic currency. The subscribers, until now, were only invite-only, where one subscriber can invite up to 12 new people, and […]
Voter Turnout and Beto O’Rourke
Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/voter-turnout-hit-records-this-year-where-it-surged-matters-1542198298?mod=hp_lead_pos7 Midterm elections often have a lower voter turnout than presidential elections. However in certain parts of the US, voter turnout for this year’s midterm elections surpassed turnout for the last presidential election. This includes Austin, Texas, fifteen counties in Montana, and Georgia – where “vote totals were near or above presidential-year levels across most […]
Chipotle’s Demise
https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-hasnt-overcome-e-coli-fears-2018-3 Many people around the world love Chipotle, but recently there have been numerous outbreaks of norovirus, salmonella, and E. Coli at restaurants because of the use of fresh ingredients and poor food preparation. The effect of the large contamination almost three years ago is still being felt by the chain. In a recent study […]
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