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When Is Social Learning Path-Dependent?

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  • Heller, Yuval
  • Mohlin, Erik

Abstract

In various environments new agents may base their decisions on observations of actions taken by a few other agents in the past. In this paper we analyze a broad class of such social learning processes, and study under what circumstances they are path-dependent. Our main result shows that a population converges to the same behavior independently of the initial state, provided that the expected number of actions observed by each agent is less than one. Moreover, in any environment in which the expected number of observed actions is more than one, there is a learning rule for which the initial state has a lasting impact on future behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Heller, Yuval & Mohlin, Erik, 2017. "When Is Social Learning Path-Dependent?," MPRA Paper 78962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:78962
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social learning; steady state; path dependence.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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