Networks and Markets

In recent years network models have been used in different application domains, ranging from social networks to supply chains and from financial networks to transportation networks. Examples of existing work in networks include exploring how to leverage available social network information to (i) develop targeted pricing/advertising strategies, and (ii) combat misinformation. Further illustrating the ubiquity of network interactions, there is a growing literature aiming to study the propagation of shocks in supply chains and financial networks, which also sheds light on different approaches for mitigating the market-wide adverse effects of such shocks. Although much progress has been made, our understanding of how network interactions affect market-wide outcomes is still very much nascent. For instance, there is a lot of promise for impactful research that may change the way we think about the design of supply chain networks or the interactions between different modes of transportation in the context of urban planning. The main objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive overview of the recent research developments in the area of networked markets. We will cover foundational work, classical models, and also various applications. In addition, we will discuss exciting directions for future research, and try to prepare you to conduct research in the area. As such, the course involves a (team) research project as well as presentations (by instructors and/or students) of select papers from the recent literature followed by a critical review of their modeling assumptions and results.