Networks and Social Capital in Determining Patterns of Inequality and Immobility

Title: Networks and Social Capital in Determining Patterns of Inequality and Immobility | Public Lecture (All Welcome)
Speaker: Dr. Matthew O. Jackson The William D. Eberle | Professor of Economics Stanford University
Date: Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM
Room: Paul Martin Centre (Laurier) & Hybrid

SUMMARY

How do people’s social networks affect their economic trajectories, andwhat do we know about how those networks form? How can we overcome the divides in networks that lead to inequality and immobility? What are the potential benefits and dangers of social engineering? We will look at data and theories that help answer these questions.

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew O. Jackson is the William D. Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University and an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute. He was at Northwestern University and Caltech before joining Stanford. Jackson's research interests include game theory, microeconomic theory, and the study of social and economic networks, on which he has published many articles and the books `The Human Network' and `Social and Economic Networks'. He also teaches an online course on networks and co-teaches two others on game theory. Jackson is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Econometric Society, the Game Theory Society, and an Economic Theory Fellow. His other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the von Neumann Award from Rajk Laszlo College, the Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize from the Toulouse School of Economics, and the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance, and Management.