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Project

Diffusion of Misinformation in Social Networks.

Despite the availability of large amount of data about economic, social, and political phenomena, misinformation is ubiquitous in society. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow agents to receive and share a lot of information in a very short time and to have an easy access to each other's opinion. This leads to faster dissemination of news and faster social learning. But it also leaves the door open to the spread of misinformation such as fake-news, as well as to opinion manipulation. This project aims at studying to key factors of the spread of misinformation: (i), how misinformation arises and, (ii), how it propagates. I will investigate the origin of misinformation and of initial biases in processing information. To do, I will consider both cultural and psychological factors, such as community identity, the intergenerational transmission of values, and the role of emotions (i.e., frustration and anger). I will study how behaviors and information spread through different kinds of social and strategic interactions. The project will analyze how social interactions, and the induced structure of the network of communication, influence the aggregation of information, the incentives to share or to gather information, and the failure of social learning processes.
Date:1 Oct 2020 →  30 Sep 2023
Keywords:GAME THEORY, MICRO ECONOMICS, SOCIAL NETWORKS
Disciplines:Game theory and bargaining theory, Analysis of collective decision-making, Micro-based behavioural economics