Networks, Crowds and Markets

The course invites you to examine the interconnectedness of modern life through an exploration of fundamental questions about how our social, economic, and technological worlds are connected. Students will explore game theory, the structure of the Internet, social contagion, the spread of social power and popularity, and information cascades.

This MOOC is based on an interdisciplinary Cornell University course entitled Networks, taught by professors David Easley, Jon Kleinberg, and Éva Tardos. That course was also the basis for the book, Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World. This course is designed at the introductory undergraduate level without formal prerequisites.

• Use the tools of graph theory as a basis for studying the Internet social networks, and the process of Web search.
• Apply game theory to analyze strategic behavior in a variety of settings including auction design, Web advertising, network routing, and social marketing.
• Understand strategic behavior in matching markets that link buyers and sellers.
• Explore the relationships between markets, information, and consumer expectations.
• Analyze the processes by which ideas, beliefs, opinions, products, technologies, and social conventions spread through social networks.