Exploring the Role of Game Theory in the Horizontal-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
This blog post builds off my previous one, and examines, through the lens of game theory, how the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) played a pivotal role in incentivizing horizontal nuclear proliferation. Massive increases in nuclear stockpiles around the world in the 1950s was a cause for great concern; between 1952 and […]
Inequality and Network Effects
Primary source consulted: https://news.mit.edu/2020/inequality-across-networks-eaman-jahani-1112 A summary: The source linked above delves into the world of inequality as it pertains to network effects. PhD candidate Eaman Jahani explores the intersection between sociology and computational studies by examining the way social networks can exacerbate inequality. He notes that, because networks play a crucial role in accessing resources […]
Bayes’ Rule and the Strategy for Winning in skribbl.io
Recently, the online game skribbl.io has been used in various social events. The idea of this game is that one of the players is given a word, and the player draws a picture that illustrates the word. The other players then try to guess the word, given the length of the word and the picture. […]
Information Cascades and Sports Gambling
The sports gambling industry, and the gambling industry in general, has been performing extremely well over the last few months. The start continuation of some of America’s most watched sports leagues has resulted in a large uptick in American’s gambling. Other catalysts, such as the pandemic, the election, and legislation changes have all been contributing […]
Disney’s Club Penguin and its Positive Network Effects
Source: https://mashable.com/2011/12/13/club-penguin-disney/ Club Penguin (Disney 2017) was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), involving a virtual world that contained a range of online games and activities. Players would create a penguin avatar and meet with/make friends in various locations throughout the game world. Players of Club Penguin could “waddle around and meet new friends”, as […]
Can Information Cascades have positive outcomes?
Link: http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/economics/about/publishingimages/elyashiv-wiedman.pdf In our class’ discussion of networks, we explore how people in a group imitate the behaviors of others in making decisions when they observe behavior sequentially. Given we learned that cascades can be wrong and often have disastrous consequences when a pattern of behavior becomes widespread, there is plenty of motivation to avoid […]
Passing the Tipping Point
The network effect is the phenomenon by which the value a user derives from a good or service increases as the number of users of this product increases. This phenomenon can easily be seen in social networking platforms because we use these applications to connect with our peers. Therefore, the value of the product increases […]
Second Covid lockdown due to information cascade
According to the article, the secondary wave of covid-19 may not be the public’s fault. In the article they state that people more or less followed government guidelines pretty well. However, some people began to ignore the warnings and went to the beach or participated in the BLM protests worldwide. Although against guidelines, citizens deemed […]
New Social Media and Network Effects
A classmate once asked me, “do you think you could invent the next social media?” My first thought was instantly no, and the reason is something which I now understand is called network effects. In a Wired article, Sangeet Choudary explains that network effects add value to sites in three ways: connection, content, and clout. […]
Nudge Theory & Organ Donations – Information Cascades
Ever since learning about information cascades and high and low signals in class, I have been contemplating what other parts of everyday life these theories come into play. This got me down the path of learning about nudge theory and nudge economics. The article “When Push Comes to Shove: Nudge Theory and Organ Donation” details […]
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