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Essays on discrete choice under social interaction: methodology and applications

Li, Ji
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1180499711

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Economics.
My dissertation focuses on methodology and applications of interaction-based models. Such models are appealing in investigating group behavior evolving from individual interactions and explaining individual behavior under group influence. The first essay examines two methods of modeling binary choice with social interactions: model assuming homogenous rational expectations and model using subjective data on expectations. Exploiting a unique survey conducted during the 1996 U.S. presidential election that was designed to study voting behavior under social context, we find that in various model specifications, using subjective expectations consistently improves models’ goodness-of-fit; and that expectations are not rational as formulated by Brock and Durlauf. Specifically, members’ characteristics are individually important in forming expectations. We also include correlated effect into the rational expectation model and demonstrate that its identification is made possible by the nonlinearity introduced through rational expectation term. This extension provides a remedy to the selection issues that often arise in social interaction models. My second essay empirically investigates how political discussion among voters affects their voting choices, particularly how a voter’s perception of his or her discussants’ political sophistication influences the extent to which his or her choice conforms to those of his or her discussants. I find that positive evaluation of discussants’ political sophistication reinforces the degree of conformity. The third essay develops an interaction-based binary choice model with heterogeneous rational expectations and applies it to the study of adolescents’ smoking behavior under peer influence. We relax the homogeneous rational expectation assumptions in previous work and examine models in which members in a group hold different expectations toward the average choice of others (heterogeneous rational expectation). We propose an allocation mechanism that facilitates the evaluation of equilibriums and we also show that, under mild restrictions, unique rational expectations equilibrium exists in such model. In application, we investigate both endogenous and exogenous peer effects in determining adolescents’ smoking behavior and find that, in addition to own characteristics, peer effects do have significant impact.
Lung-fei Lee (Advisor)
123 p.
Economics, General

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Li, J. (2007). Essays on discrete choice under social interaction: methodology and applications [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1180499711

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Li, Ji. Essays on discrete choice under social interaction: methodology and applications. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1180499711.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Li, Ji. "Essays on discrete choice under social interaction: methodology and applications." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1180499711

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1180499711
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© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.