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Matthew O. Jackson, PhD on Human Networks and Microfinance

Release Date: 06/01/2021

Todd Nief's Show

Paul Bearer is the vocalist for one of the most influential and underrated New York Hardcore bands of all time: Sheer Terror. Sheer Terror came out of the very strange New York Hardcore scene of the 80s — before the music became codified into the metallic, bouncy mosh parts we think of as NYHC today. While Sheer Terror is certainly no stranger to blending metal and punk, their sound is much more Tom G. Warrior plus Oi! rather than syncopated, single-string riffs. Nothing against bouncy mosh parts, but Sheer Terror is much more my cup of tea, personally. Paul and I talk not only about the...

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Todd Nief's Show

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Todd Nief's Show

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Todd Nief's Show

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Matthew O. Jackson, PhD on Human Networks and Microfinance

Todd Nief's Show

Humans have an intuitive sense for who is important and well-connected. We like knowing “movers and shakers,” and we regularly engage in complicated social machinations — conscious or otherwise — to position ourselves close to the seat of influence. But what about the formal study of the spread of information through human networks? Matthew O. Jackson is a professor of economics at Stanford, and his book “” is a fantastic primer on the complex dynamics of human relationships. He’s also done fascinating work on the spread of microfinance in southern India with Arun Chandrasekhar...

Kayhan Vaziri (Yautja)

Todd Nief's Show

Yautja plays lurching, uncomfortable music, so it is fitting that their new album is called “The Lurch.” I first met Kayhan back in approximately 2010 when I was on tour with Weekend Nachos and we stayed at Kayhan’s place in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Kayhan was in a band called Legion (funny enough), and since then has gone on to play in several excellent hardcore and metal projects like , , and — of course — Yautja. Yautja’s most recent record is fantastic, so I wanted to get Kayhan on the podcast to discuss how they write such weird but catchy songs. The conversation also...

Simple Solutions to Complex Problems [Solocast]

Todd Nief's Show

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Bryan James, PhD on Alzheimer’s and Epidemiology

Todd Nief's Show

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James Pligge (Harm's Way) Round II

Todd Nief's Show

James Pligge is back by popular demand. This time, we talk about some of the many misconceptions that people have about James and Harm’s Way — as well as James’s ill-fated attempt to make a protein shake with Coca-Cola. To be honest, talking about making a protein shake from Coca-Cola probably doesn’t do a lot to correct any of those popular misconceptions about James… Either way, this is a hilarious conversation. James explains why Harm’s Way is more influenced by The Jesus Lizard than by Madball and also ridicules contemporary powerlifting culture. Learn more from James and...

John Caution (Weekend Nachos)

Todd Nief's Show

I feel like I say this about a lot of my friends that I have on the podcast, but John Caution is one of the weirdest and funniest people I know. I’m happy to talk to John endlessly about funny things that people we both know did 15 years ago, but, in this interview, we talk about the legacy of Weekend Nachos. We talk about the trolling instinct, the impulse to create — either in riff form or otherwise, and being in a band that defined the identity of a lot of angry but funny social misfits. I laughed pretty hard during this interview, and I laughed even harder while relistening to it....

More Episodes

But what about the formal study of the spread of information through human networks? Matthew O. Jackson is a professor of economics at Stanford, and his book “The Human Network” is a fantastic primer on the complex dynamics of human relationships. He’s also done fascinating work on the spread of microfinance in southern India with Arun Chandrasekhar and Nobel Laureates Abhijit Bahnerjee and Esther Duflo.

In this podcast, we discuss the spread of microfinance in villages in rural India — as well as some unintended consequences that that came as a result of disrupting the social structures of these villages. And, as sometimes happens, we also had a brief detour to discuss Frank Herbert’s “Dune.”

Learn more from Matthew here:

Website: Stanford Homepage
Books: The Human Network | Social and Economic Networks
Twitter: @jacksonmmatt
Coursera: Instructor Page

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Show Notes:

[02:08] “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
[05:56] The spread of microfinance in southern India provides a natural experiment for tracking the flow of information through social networks — and the consequences of altering the social graph in communities.
[20:17] How did companies try to spread loans in India? What types of people best spread information about microfinance in their communities?
[26:30] Information spread “decays” the further out in the network it gets. What causes this?
[38:00] A quick detour into Dune and Lord of the Rings
[42:26] The consequences of microfinance on the social networks in villages — and externalities on those who already have week social ties
[55:40] Does disrupting the social networks of rural villages cause any positive externalities like less caste segregation?
[01:00:17] Using “policy cocktails” to help counteract the unintended consequences of interventions.
[01:10:00] How to learn more from Matthew, follow his research, and purchase his books.

Learn more from Matthew here:

Show Notes:

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