Leveraging Virtual Contact and Social Networks to Foster Interethnic Harmony* Abstract. This article investigates whether virtual contact, initiated through a documentary film, can promote interethnic harmony. We carried out a cluste

#QJE May 2026, #10, “Leveraging Virtual Contact and Social Networks to Foster Interethnic Harmony,” by Siddique (@absidd.bsky.social), Vlassopoulos, and Zenou (@yveszenou.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

Friendship Networks and Political Opinions (Forthcoming Article) - We examine how social interactions and friendships shape students' political opinions in a natural experiment at Sciences Po, a leading French university specializing in social and political sciences. The quasi-random assignment of students into short-term integration groups before their academic curriculum reduces political opinion gaps and fosters friendship formation. Using same-group membership as an instrumental variable for friendship, we find that friendship reduces opinion differences by 40% of a standard deviation in the opinion gap. Our evidence supports a homophily-enforced mechanism: friendships form among initially politically similar students, leading them to join political associations together, reinforcing their similarity.

Forthcoming in the AER: "Friendship Networks and Political Opinions" by Yann Algan, Nicolò Dalvit, Quoc-Anh Do, Alexis Le Chapelain, and Yves Zenou.

American Economic Review Vol. 116 No. 4 April 2026

The April 2026 issue of the American Economic Review (116, 4) is now available online at

Games on Multiplex Networks (April 2026) - We develop a simple multilayer network model in which agents allocate effort across layers with heterogeneous structures, subject to an aggregate effort constraint. Incentives are shape...

New published paper on multiplex networks: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

New paper on nonlinear games. We propose a new technique that proves uniqueness in many equilibrium systems, including production networks, trade, spatial models, nonlinear peer effects, network games, etc. We also propose two new network game models. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Last week we hosted a terrific, wide-ranging conversation between 2005-06 CASBS fellow @jacksonmatthewo.bsky.social & current fellow @rajivsethi.bsky.social for our podcast, Human Centered.

We'll release the episode in the spring. Until then, follow Human Centered on your favorite podcast app 🎙️🎧

I will be teaching a PhD course titled “Peer vs. Network Effects” at Stockholm University from Monday 8 June to Friday 12 June 2026, from 10:00 to 12:00 each day.
For the course description and registration details, please see: www.su.se/english/divi...

Games on Multiplex Networks (Forthcoming Article) - We develop a simple multilayer network model in which agents allocate effort across layers with heterogeneous structures, subject to an aggregate effort constraint. Incentives are shaped by agents’ network positions within each layer, and equilibrium behavior reflects both within- and cross-layer interactions. We analyze how shocks propagate through the network and characterize optimal targeting interventions. Our results show that effective policy design must account for effort allocation across layers. We also demonstrate that predictions from monolayer models can diverge sharply from those of multilayer models, underscoring the importance of accounting for network complexity in both empirical and policy analyses.

Forthcoming in the AER: "Games on Multiplex Networks" by Yves Zenou and Junjie Zhou.

Nice to see this paper in press!

🆕 RFBerlin Discussion Paper!
Sebastiano Della Lena, Luca Paolo Merlino & @yveszenou.bsky.social analyze how media outlets and social interactions fuel affective polarization, shaping opinion dynamics and political divisions.
🔗 www.rfberlin.com/wp-content/u...

After nearly 10 years since we started working on it, our paper “How natural disasters spread conflict” (with @raschky.bsky.social @yveszenou.bsky.social and Junjie Zhou) is now published in the European Economic Review 🤩

doi.org/10.1016/j.eu...

🍾🍾

Here is a new paper that reviews the theoretical and empirical foundations of peer and network effects, aiming to bridge insights from both literatures.

🎖️ The Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt!

Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.

#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize

🆕 RFBerlin Discussion Paper: Arthur Campbell, C. Matthew Leister, Philip Ushchev and @yveszenou.bsky.social develop a model of content-filtering to study how network structure shapes the distribution of political content: www.rfberlin.com/network-pape...

Network Economics Conference and Summer School 2025

Just spent two very inspiring days at the Summer School on Networks organized by my friend and coauthor @yveszenou.bsky.social at Monash Uni. Great lectures by Matt Jackson (Stanford), Sanjeev Goyal (Cambridge) and Yves — I learned so much! Thanks Yves!!!

www.monash.edu/business/eve...

The summer school on networks (monash.edu/business/eve...) kicked off with
@jacksonmatthewo.bsky.social.

Political Breakthroughs in the Trenches ROCKWOOL Foundation

🆕 RFBerlin Discussion Paper: @paulinegrosjean.bsky.social, @saumjha.bsky.social, @mvlass.bsky.social, and @yveszenou.bsky.social study when and how exposure to new political ideas can realign beliefs by leveraging the exogenous assignment of French soldiers to line infantry regiments in WWI.

We are hiring! We are seeking expressions of interest for appointment as Full Professor in the Department of Economics at Monash University. DM me if you have questions.

econjobmarket.org/positions/11...

@yveszenou.bsky.social @monashuniversity.bsky.social joins @talknormal.co.uk to discuss whether friendship can change our political beliefs.
Based on an experiment at #SciencesPo, this VoxTalks explores how even brief connections can bridge ideological divides.
cepr.org/multimedia/d...

#EconSky

Network Economics Conference and Summer School 2025

I'm organizing a two-day summer school on networks (10-11 September) at Monash University where Matt Jackson (@JacksonmMatt ), Sanjeev Goyal, and myself will teach a 12 hours course. It is free and anybody interested can apply here: www.monash.edu/business/eve...

New paper on crime and networks and on how to identify key player areas of crime in London! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

🎦 Economist Yves Zenou (Monash University) about his work on the impact of peers on the choices we make. Video 🇬🇧🇫🇷 ⤵️

#Scicomm @yveszenou.bsky.social @univ-amu.fr @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @ehess-fr.bsky.social @centralemed.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOmZ...

After Bonacich centrality, there is now Bonacci coffee!

Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap between Immigrants and the US-Born, 1870–2020 (December 2024) - We provide the first nationally representative long-run series (1870–2020) of incarceration rates for immigrants and the US-born. As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration ...

Recent data on immigrant criminality: Immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than US-born for 150 years. And, relative to the US-born, immigrants' incarceration rates have declined since 1960. Immigrants today are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

The hidden costs of classroom disruptiveness How peer behavior shapes academic and career outcomes

✨ #IZAdventCalendar 2️⃣0️⃣

🎁 Today's insight: Disruptive classmates have lasting impacts on academic and career outcomes.

Test scores ⬇️ Graduation ⬇️ STEM pursuits ⬇️

@sgoulas.bsky.social @silviagriselda.bsky.social @rmegal.bsky.social @yveszenou.bsky.social #EduSky
newsroom.iza.org/en/archive/r...

ConGrats to amazing Antonio Penta who will start as an editor @reveconstudies.bsky.social January 1 (replacing Galeotti, who has completed his term):
www.antoniopenta.eu

Daron Acemoglu delivers remarks at 2024 Nobel Banquet - Massachusetts Institute of Technology On December 10, 2024, Daron Acemoglu delivered an acceptance speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, on behalf of himself, Simon Johnson, and James A.…

Dear friends and followers, for those of you who are interested, here is the recording of the Nobel banquet speech: shapingwork.mit.edu/news/daron-a...

Here is a new paper on how do disruptive peers influence academic and career trajectories. We find that classroom peer disruptiveness has significant and persistent negative effects on various academic outcomes both in the short and long term. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

NEW #IFSWorkingPaper: Spillovers in criminal networks: Evidence from co-offender deaths

Read Matthew Lindquist, Eleonora Patacchini, @mvlass.bsky.social and @yveszenou.bsky.social study on spillover effects within criminal networks by leveraging the deaths of co-offenders: https://buff.ly/4gl45t2

How does classroom disruptive affect your performance and educational choice?

Together with @rmegal.bsky.social Yves Zenou and Sofojlis Goulas we combine admin data and reduce form estimates, with lab in the field and theory model to answer this question. Working paper coming soon...