Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / wk, 1.5 hrs / session
Prerequisites
Multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and basic probability at the level of 6.041, 14.30, or 18.600. Since the course is aimed at developing a systematic understanding and analysis of networks and processes over networks, students will be expected to work extensively with mathematical models and analytical reasoning. There is no programming prerequisite, but some problem set questions will have theoretical, computational, and empirical options for students to choose among.
Course Description
Networks are ubiquitous in our modern society. The World Wide Web that links us to the rest of the world is the most visible example. But it is only one of many networks in which we are situated. Our social life is organized around networks of friends and colleagues. These networks determine our information, influence our opinions, and shape our political attitudes. They also link us, often through weak but important ties, to everybody else in the United States and in the world. Economic and financial markets also look much more like networks than anonymous marketplaces. Firms interact with the same suppliers and customers and use web-like supply chains. Financial linkages, both among banks and between consumers, companies, and banks, also form a network over which funds flow and risks are shared; systemic risk in financial markets often results from the counter-party risks created within this financial network. Food chains, interacting biological systems and the spread and containment of epidemics like Covid-19 are some of the other natural and social phenomena that exhibit a marked networked structure.
This course will introduce the tools for the study of networks. It will show how certain common principles permeate the functioning of these diverse networks and how the same issues related to robustness, fragility, and interlinkages arise in many different types of networks.
Textbooks and Readings
The lecture slides we will provide and post on the course website contain all of the information and material that are required for the course. There will also be supplementary assigned readings from two textbooks:
• David Easley and Jon Kleinberg (EK), Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World, Cambridge University Press. (An excellent textbook at about the level of our course; we will however go somewhat deeper on some topics.)
• Matthew Jackson, Social and Economic Networks, Princeton University Press. (An excellent textbook at a somewhat more advanced level.)
Grading
| Activities | Percentages |
|---|---|
| Homework (10 Problem Sets) | 40% |
| Midterm Exam | 30% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
The midterm and final exams will both be implemented via Qualtrics. The exam will be available for 24 hours. You may access the exam any time during that period, and once you access it you will have 3 hours to complete the exam.
Attendance and active class participation is mandatory and will be recorded. Students who must miss class should inform the TAs in advance. Attendance and class participation will factor into the grade in marginal cases.
Graduate students enrolled in 14.150 must additionally complete an approximately five-page literature review/research proposal on a topic of their choice, subject to approval by the instructor and TAs. This is due on the last day of class.
