Networks
Course facts
- Payment: Free, no certificate
- Credits: Non Credit
- Learning style: Self-paced, start anytime
- Resources: Exams; Lecture Notes; Problem Sets
MIT OpenCourseWare details
- As taught in: Spring 2022
- Department: Economics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Study social and economic networks: centrality, random graphs, diffusion, game theory, auctions, social learning and misinformation, with problem sets.
Our friendships, firms’ supply chains and banks’ exposures all form networks, and the same principles run through them. This class gives the tools to study how shocks, ideas and behavior spread. It covers random graphs, centrality, diffusion including Covid-19, game theory on networks, bargaining, auctions, social learning and, finally, misinformation and polarization among social media users.
What You Will Achieve
- Measure networks using centrality and clustering
- Analyze random graphs and phase transitions
- Model diffusion and cascading behavior
- Apply game theory to network traffic and markets
Program Overview
Measuring Networks
The first lectures build the vocabulary.
- Directed and undirected graphs
- Eigenvector-based centrality
- Production networks
- Random graphs
Diffusion and Social Learning
Next comes how things move through a network.
- DeGroot learning
- Diffusion models
- Covid-19 pandemic
- Bayesian learning and herding
Strategic Behavior
The remaining lectures add incentives.
- Braess’ paradox
- Network effects in markets
- Bargaining and intermediation
- Auctions
Course Completion
Job Outlook
These tools are useful in economics, data science, finance and the study of social media.
Good for: Quantitative undergraduates comfortable with multivariable calculus, linear algebra and probability.
Keep in mind: From spring 2022, with slides and problem sets but no lecture videos. The final exam is not available, and solutions are listed only for practice problems on social media networks.
Bottom line: A clean, modern treatment of a wide field, and a strong fit for people who like applied mathematics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is programming needed?
It is not required. Some problem set questions let you choose among theoretical, computational and empirical options, so you can code if you like.
Which textbooks support it?
Networks, Crowds, and Markets by Easley and Kleinberg, and the more advanced Social and Economic Networks by Matthew Jackson, as supplementary reading.
Which guest lectures are included?
Sara Ellison on diffusion and Covid-19, Asuman Ozdaglar on network game theory, and James Siderius on misinformation and polarization.
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