Research Interests for Rachel Kranton

Professor Kranton specializes in industrial organization, economic development, behavioral economics, and microeconomics. She focuses her studies mainly on the investigation of economic outcomes based on influences from such variables as social setting, networks, and institutions. To fund her research, she has received a number of grants, including those awarded by the National Science Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study. Her latest research endeavors include the projects, “Topics in the Economic Theory of Networks,” “Buyer-Seller Networks,” and “Search and Diffusion in Social Networks.” Her diverse body of research is represented through her extensive list of works that have appeared in leading academic journals throughout her career. Titles of her recent papers include, “Contracts, Hold-up, and Exports: Textiles and Opium in Colonial India” with Anand Swamy; “Public Goods in Networks” with Yan Bramoulle; “The Formation of Industry Supply Networks” with Deborah Minehart; “Social Divisions within Schools: how school policies can affect students’ identities and educational choices” with George Akerlof; “A Model of Poverty and Oppositional Culture” with George Akerlof; and others. She is currently conducting research funded by a grant from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research on, “Social Interactions, Identity, and Well-Being.”

Keywords:

networks, social identity, microeconomic theory, behavioral economics

Recent Publications

1. with George Akerlof, Identity Economics (2010), Princeton University Press
2. with Y.Bramoullé, Strategic Interaction and Networks (2009)
3. with A. Swamy, Contracts, Hold-Up and Exports: Textiles and Opium in Colonial India, American Economic Review, vol. 98 no. 3 (June, 2008), pp. 967-989
4. with Y. Bramoullé, Public Goods in Networks, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 135 no. 1 (July, 2007), pp. 478-94
5. with Y. Bramoullé, Risk Sharing Across Communities (January, 2007)