Sanjeev Goyal - Networks Origins, systemic risks, public policy

The video discusses the role of networks in economics, focusing on their structures, incentives for formation, and implications for systemic risk and public policy. It highlights the core-periphery structure and small-world features of networks, using examples from financial, social, and transport networks. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding incentives and externalities in network formation and the potential role of public policy in regulating networks to mitigate risks and enhance resilience.

What are some pressing and fascinating questions that economists have been exploring regarding networks in the last decade?

How do financial networks share common features with other types of networks, such as social or transport networks?

What is the significance of the core-periphery structure in banking networks?

In what ways do networks exhibit inequality and centrality of a few key nodes?

What are the implications of small-world networks in the context of systemic risk and resilience?

What role does public policy play in shaping the structure and location of networks?

How do externalities affect the choices banks make in forming links within networks?

What are the challenges in understanding how networks function when players do not know the network very well?

Why is it important to consider the structure of networks in relation to financial contagion and epidemics?

What are some recent advances in the theory of networks that economists are focusing on?