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Coordination, Communication, and Information: How Network Structure and Knowledge Affect Group Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2019

Mathew D. McCubbins  and
Nicholas Weller
Mathew D. McCubbins
Affiliation:
Ruth F. De Varney Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law, Department of Political Science and Duke Law School, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Nicholas Weller*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Communication is central to solving coordination problems in politics. In this paper, we show that both the communication network and what people know about the network structure affect coordination. Increases in the number of connections between people make coordination easier and so does increasing the amount of information people have about the structure. We also demonstrate that highly connected nodes in the network can facilitate coordination, but only if individuals have sufficient knowledge to identify the presence of these nodes. Our results suggest the importance of understanding network knowledge and its effects on behavior.

Keywords

communicationnetworkscoordinationlaboratory experimentsgroup behavior
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , Spring 2020 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
© The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2019 

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