The study of social interactions has enriched both the domain of inquiry of economists and the way economists conceptualize individual decision making. The review aims to introduce the classes of models that accommodate estimation of social interactions and to examine the key areas where...

While interest in social determinants of individual behavior has led to a rich theoretical literature and many efforts to measure these influences, a mature “social econometrics” has yet to emerge. This chapter provides a critical overview of the identification of social interactions. We...

Greece is at a decisive moment. It has to choose between defaulting and an economic program of structural reforms, privatization, efficient tax collection, and shrinking of the public sector. Unilateral suspension of debt payments would be an economic catastrophe for Greeks, resulting in deep...

Empirical studies of labor markets show that social contacts are an important source of job-related information [Ioannides and Loury (2004)]. At the same time, wage differences among workers may be explained only in part by differences in individual background characteristics. Such findings...