Asymmetric social interaction in economics
Subtitle: cigarette smoking among young people in the United  States, 1992-1999
By: Jeffrey E. Harris, Beatriz Lopez-Valcarcel.
Contributors: González López-Valcárcel, Beatriz; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 10409; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 10409.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Young adults -- Tobacco use.
Description: "We analyzed cigarette smoking among people aged 15 - 24 in approximately 90,000 households in the 1992 - 1999 U.S.  Current Population Surveys.  We modeled social influence as an informational externality, in which each young person's smoking informs her peers about its coolness.' The resulting family smoking game,' with each sibling's smoking endogenous, may have multiple equilibria.  We found that the pro-smoking influence of a fellow smoker markedly exceeded the deterrent effect of a non-smoking peer.  The phenomenon of asymmetric social influence has implications for financial markets, educational performance, criminal behavior, and other areas of inquiry where peer influence is important"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.