What do leaders know?

DOI10.3390/E15083031zbMATH Open1422.91617arXiv1306.3830OpenAlexW2072612665MaRDI QIDQ280471FDOQ280471

Authors: Giacomo Livan, Matteo Marsili 

Publication date: 10 May 2016

Published in: Entropy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The ability of a society to make the right decisions on relevant matters relies on its capability to properly aggregate the noisy information spread across the individuals it is made of. In this paper we study the information aggregation performance of a stylized model of a society whose most influential individuals - the leaders - are highly connected among themselves and uninformed. Agents update their state of knowledge in a Bayesian manner by listening to their neighbors. We find analytical and numerical evidence of a transition, as a function of the noise level in the information initially available to agents, from a regime where information is correctly aggregated to one where the population reaches consensus on the wrong outcome with finite probability. Furthermore, information aggregation depends in a non-trivial manner on the relative size of the clique of leaders, with the limit of a vanishingly small clique being singular.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.3830

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zbMATH Keywords

social networksinformation diffusionsocial learning

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Social networks; opinion dynamics (91D30)

Cites Work

• A guide to first-passage processes
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Bayesian learning in social networks.
• Persuasion Bias, Social Influence, and Unidimensional Opinions
• Bayesian learning in social networks
• Learning from Neighbours
• Pathological Outcomes of Observational Learning
• A model for spatial conflict

Cited In (3)

• Decision accuracy and the role of spatial interaction in opinion dynamics
• The rise and fall of hubs in self-organized critical learning networks
• A simple model of voice

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