This paper proposes a behavioral model of social learning that unies various forms of inferential reasoning in one hierarchy of types. Iterated best responses that are based on uninformative level-0 play lead to the following of the private information (level-1), to the following of the majority...

We find that firms are more likely to split their stock if their peer firms have recently done so. The effect is comparable to an increase of 40-50% in the share price. Splitting probability is also increasing in the announcement returns of peer splits. These results are consistent with social...

Networks and the embedded relationships are critical determinants of how people communicate and form beliefs. The explosion of social media has significantly increased the scope and impact of social learning among consumers. This paper studies observational learning in networks of friends versus...

Der vorliegende Beitrag entwickelt in fünf Thesen, wie der gesellschaftliche Umgang mit Skandalen so kultiviert werden kann, dass sie sich in einer (Re-)Formierung institutioneller Anreize niederschlagen und so gesellschaftliche Lernprozesse nicht nur fordern, sondern auch tatsächlich fördern.