Networks and economic policy

Matthew L. Elliott, Sanjeev Goyal, Alexander Teytelboym

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Over the past two decades, economists have made significant advances in understanding how networks affect individual behaviour and shape aggregate outcomes. We argue that insights from network economics can play an important role in the design of economic policy. Focusing on six policy domains, we show that network economics not only deepens our understanding of existing policy concerns but also suggests a number of new policy questions. In each of these policy areas, we evaluate the availability of data and assess the suitability of the network economics toolkit for policy work. We conclude with a discussion of challenges to the adoption of network-based methods in economic policy along with strategies to overcome them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)565-585
Number of pages21
JournalOxford Review of Economic Policy
Volume35
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 4 2019

Keywords

  • criminal networks
  • financial networks
  • networked markets
  • production networks
  • professional networks
  • social networks

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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