Coordinamento:
Federico Bianchi
Università di Milano
federico.bianchi1@unimi.it
Elena De Gioannis
Università di Milano
elena.degioannis@unimi.it
Raffaele Vacca
Università di Milano
raffaele.vacca@unimi.it
Call for papers
Understanding and manipulating causal mechanisms is key to analyse the changing complexity of socio-economic phenomena and inform policies. Recent methodological and technological developments allow us to trace the processes linking actors’ decisions and context framing to the social networks in which information, trust, reputation, and norms circulate. First, the growing availability of fine-grained data on social interactions — both digital and traditional — requires the application of specific computational modelling and computer simulations. Moreover, experimental methods and computational simulation allow us to go beyond mere observation of correlations between data and to identify causal relationships more clearly. Finally, manipulation allowed by experiments and computer simulations enables rigorous testing of the impact of organisational design and public intervention. This session aims to collect contributions applying experimental and quasi-experimental methods (e.g., laboratory experiments, field experiments, online experiments, vignettes, or survey experiments), social network analysis, computational simulation models (e.g., agent-based models), and analysis of large digital datasets for studying socio-economic phenomena. Particular, though not exclusive, interest will be devoted to the analysis of socio-economic behaviour, socio-cognitive decision-making processes, the creation and maintenance of cooperation norms, the diffusion of trust and reputation, market network structures, organisations, and networks of support and social cohesion.