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What makes an opinion leader: Expertise vs popularity

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  • Rapanos, Theodoros

Abstract

This paper studies learning through social networks in which agents update their beliefs by weighting those of their peers. We allow agents to pay little attention to peers with poor information at first, but more later on, as that peer acquires better information from more knowledgeable agents. We derive explicitly how social influence depends on agents' popularity (eigenvector centrality) and expertise (information precision) and show that even completely uninformed agents can contribute to social learning. In certain cases, providing better information to extremely popular agents may distract attention from the views of the experts, and lead society to worse assessments.

Suggested Citation

  • Rapanos, Theodoros, 2023. "What makes an opinion leader: Expertise vs popularity," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 355-372.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:138:y:2023:i:c:p:355-372
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2023.01.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social networks; Social learning; Information diffusion; Opinion leadership; Social influence; Belief formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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