Cities and the structure of social interactions: evidence from mobile phone data

Büchel, Konstantin; v. Ehrlich, Maximilian (December 2016). Cities and the structure of social interactions: evidence from mobile phone data (Unpublished) Universität Bern Dept. Volkswirtschaftslehre

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Social interactions are considered pivotal to urban agglomeration forces. This study
employs a unique dataset on mobile phone calls to examine how social interactions
differ across cities and peripheral areas. We first show that geographical distance
is highly detrimental to interpersonal exchange. We then reveal that individuals residing in high-density locations do not benefit from larger social networks, but from a more efficient structure in terms of higher matching quality and lower clustering. These results are derived from two complementary approaches: Based on a link formation model, we examine how geographical distance, network overlap, and socio-demographic (dis)similarities impact the likelihood that two agents interact. We further decompose the effects from individual, location, and time specific determinants on micro-level network measures by exploiting information on mobile phone users who change their place of residence.

Item Type:

Working Paper

Division/Institute:

03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics > Institute of Economics
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Economics > Institute of Economics > Public Economics
11 Centers of Competence > Center for Regional Economic Development (CRED)

UniBE Contributor:

Büchel, Konstantin, v. Ehrlich, Maximilian

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics

Publisher:

Universität Bern Dept. Volkswirtschaftslehre

Language:

English

Submitter:

Simon Büchler

Date Deposited:

30 May 2017 11:01

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:02

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Social interactions; agglomeration externalities; network analysis; sorting

JEL Classification:

R1, R23, Z13, D85

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.95011

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/95011

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