SFI External Professor and Science Board Member Matthew Jackson (Stanford University) has received a BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management. He is recognized “for his pioneering work on illuminating the role of networks in economic and social life.”
In a 1996 paper in the Journal of Economic Theory, Jackson and his co-author Asher Wolinsky explained the important role of networks in economics, with insights into how those networks form. This paper spurred a large body of research — both theoretical and empirical — that took a social-network approach to study economic behavior and financial markets.
“Most of our interactions as human beings are social,” Jackson says in a video response to the award, posted with the BBVA Foundation announcement. “We depend on other people for information, connections, opportunities, and also for norms of behavior. So the networks we are embedded in become very important determinants of our behavior and outcomes."
Read the full announcement, including a video response from Jackson.