Hang Xiong

Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Innovations: Theory and Simulation

This paper presents a theoretical framework for studying peer effects in the diffusion of innovations. The underlying mechanisms of peer effects are generally under-discussed in existing studies. By investigating diffusion processes in the real world and reviewing previous studies, we find that information transmission, experience sharing and externalities are the basic mechanisms through which peer effects occur. They are termed as information effect, experience effect and externality effect, respectively. The three effects could occur through different types of relationships in a social network. Each of them plays a different role at different stages of a diffusion process. A simulation model incorporating multiple effects in a multiplex network is developed to provide a theoretical study. We simulate the experience effect and the externality effect in a context of rural diffusion. It generates the widely acknowledged patterns of diffusion in various scenarios. The experiments conducted using the model show that peer effects as a whole can be substantially misestimated if the underlying mechanisms are ignored.

Characteristics of Chinese Rural Network: Evidence from Villages in Central China

The structure of rural societies in China has been studied by many researchers. Several characteristics are widely viewed as the unique features of Chinese rural societies. However, the quantitative measure of these characteristics are not found. We measure and examine the structure of Chinese rural communities from the perspective of social networks. We collected solid data of four important social relationships, namely, the kinship, the house neighbourhood, the land plot neighbourhood and the political relationship from ten natural villages (which constitute an administrative village) in central China. We calculate the network statistics and topological properties of the networks in the villages. Several characteristics are found. (1) Kinship and geographical relationship are the two major relationships that constitute the social networks in Chinese villages. (2) Chinese villages exhibit prominent small-world property. (3) The villages are generally quite decentralised. (4) Relatives, especially close relatives tend to also live geographically close to each other.

Diffusion on social networks: Survey data from rural villages in central China

Empirical studies on social diffusions are often restricted by the access to data of diffusion and social relations on the same objects. We present a set of first-hand data that we collected in ten rural villages in central China through household surveys. The dataset contains detailed and comprehensive data of the diffusion of an innovation, the major social relationships and the household level demographic characteristics in these villages. The data have been used to study peer effects in social diffusion using simulation models, “Peer Effects and Social Network: The Case of Rural Diffusion in Central China” [1]. They can also be used to estimate spatial econometric models. Data are supplied with this article.