Formation of Segregated and Integrated Groups

27 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2006

See all articles by Alison C. Watts

Alison C. Watts

Southern Illinois University - Department of Economics

Date Written: October 2006

Abstract

A model of group formation is presented where the number of groups is fixed and a person can only join a group if the group's members approve the person's joining. Agents have either local status preferences (each agent wants to be the highest status agent in his group) or global status preferences (each agent wants to join the highest status group that she can join). For both preference types, conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of a segregated stable partition where similar people are grouped together and conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of an integrated stable partition where dissimilar people are grouped together. Additionally, in a dynamic framework we show that if a new empty group is added to a segregated stable partition, then integration may occur.

Keywords: Group Formation, Stable Partition, Segregation, Integration

JEL Classification: C7, D6

Suggested Citation

Watts, Alison C., Formation of Segregated and Integrated Groups (October 2006). FEEM Working Paper No. 127.06, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=936932 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.936932

Alison C. Watts (Contact Author)

Southern Illinois University - Department of Economics ( email )

Carbondale, IL 62901
United States

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