<p>In social sciences, a lot of work is done on social networks. However, I have not found any work on invisible networks. If there are some, please list the same. If there are not any, why this is so? Think of invisible (sub)network as a set of nodes (people) connected to each other, but these connection are not visible (known) to rest of the network.</p>

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2016-06-09T20:35:50.180Z
What is an invisible network?
Lex
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2016-06-09T20:38:56.590Z
@Lex please see the edit.
akm
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2016-06-10T07:19:30.143Z
You mean like two of your friends know each other, but you don't know it?
clem steredenn
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2016-06-10T19:19:55.150Z
@bilbo_pingouin that is one example.
akm
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2016-06-10T20:04:08.927Z
That's invisible to you, but maybe not to an external researcher.
clem steredenn
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2016-06-10T22:41:34.973Z
Would you mind giving some examples of books/papers/research (in or outside of economics) that study "invisible networks" (or have them rigorously defined)? I'm not sure a lot of people are familiar with this topic, and also this term may mean different things to different people. Thank you!
tvk
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2016-06-11T01:37:00.230Z
@bilbo_pingouin what?
akm
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2016-06-11T01:39:01.360Z
@FangJing please read the question again, i have explained invisible network and the original post itself is asking for books etc
akm
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2016-06-11T05:13:16.673Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not specifically related to economics, nor does there seem to be any specific applications to it (although you are free to provide tangible examples to the contrary).
Kitsune Cavalry
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2016-06-11T18:28:39.187Z
@KitsuneCavalry One relation to economics would be the impact upon demand. For example, using the friend example above, if both friends get the new iPhone and tell you about it, it appears to you that two separate individuals upgraded their phones. This might encourage you to do the same.
Mathematician
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2016-06-11T21:07:32.733Z
As Mathematician points out this is approach is used in economics when assesing entry costs or positive externalities of certain platforms, such as bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover card), price comparison websites, gaming consoles with multiplayer capabilities etc.
Giskard
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2016-06-12T15:44:59.497Z
The question is still unclear. 1) by taking an example to the extreme, I could ask for: why there is no work on red network? The answer is kind of obvious since I made a definition of red network in the spot, so obviously there can't be any work. In other words is invisible network a definition you made or is there someone who gave you a formal definition? 2) usually a network is extremely big, so it is always implied that any big network is also an invisible network (at least this is what I understand by your definition).
Lex
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2016-06-12T15:55:49.310Z
Anyway, the closest model I can think of is the cascading model with heterogeneity threshold/ collective action. https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/networks-book-ch19.pdf
Lex
<reference-request><networks>
Research on invisible networks
akm
# Research on invisible networks

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-06-09)

In social sciences, a lot of work is done on social networks. However, I have not found any work on invisible networks. If there are some, please list the same. If there are not any, why this is so? Think of invisible (sub)network as a set of nodes (people) connected to each other, but these connection are not visible (known) to rest of the network.

**Tags:** reference-request, networks

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What is an invisible network?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 please see the edit.  
> **username_2**: You mean like two of your friends know each other, but you don't know it?  
> **username_0**: @bilbo_pingouin that is one example.  
> **username_2**: That's invisible to you, but maybe not to an external researcher.  
> **username_3**: Would you mind giving some examples of books/papers/research (in or outside of economics) that study "invisible networks" (or have them rigorously defined)? I'm not sure a lot of people are familiar with this topic, and also this term may mean different things to different people. Thank you!  
> **username_0**: @bilbo_pingouin what?  
> **username_0**: @FangJing please read the question again, i have explained invisible network and the original post itself is asking for books etc  
> **username_4**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not specifically related to economics, nor does there seem to be any specific applications to it (although you are free to provide tangible examples to the contrary).  
> **username_5**: @username_4 One relation to economics would be the impact upon demand. For example, using the friend example above, if both friends get the new iPhone and tell you about it, it appears to you that two separate individuals upgraded their phones. This might encourage you to do the same.  
> **username_6**: As username_5 points out this is approach is used in economics when assesing entry costs or positive externalities of certain platforms, such as bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover card), price comparison websites, gaming consoles with multiplayer capabilities etc.  
> **username_1**: The question is still unclear. 1) by taking an example to the extreme, I could ask for: why there is no work on red network? The answer is kind of obvious since I made a definition of red network in the spot, so obviously there can't be any work. In other words is invisible network a definition you made or is there someone who gave you a formal definition? 2) usually a network is extremely big, so it is always implied that any big network is also an invisible network (at least this is what I understand by your definition).  
> **username_1**: Anyway, the closest model I can think of is the cascading model with heterogeneity threshold/ collective action. https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/networks-book-ch19.pdf  

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