Innovation Diffusion in Heterogeneous Populations

Center on Social and Economic Dynamics Working Paper No. 45

44 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2007

Date Written: December 28, 2006

Abstract

New products and practices take time to diffuse, a fact that is often attributed to some form of heterogeneity among potential adopters. People may realize different benefits and costs from the innovation, or have different beliefs about its benefits and costs, hear about it at different times, or delay in acting on their information. This paper analyzes the dynamics arising from different sources of heterogeneity in a completely general setting without placing parametric restrictions on the distribution of the relevant characteristics. The structure of the dynamics, especially the pattern of acceleration, depends importantly on which type of heterogeneity is driving the process. These differences are sufficiently marked that they provide a potential tool for discriminating empirically among diffusion mechanisms. The results have potential application to marketing, technological change, fads, and epidemics.

Keywords: diffusion, innovation, learning

JEL Classification: O33, D8, M3

Suggested Citation

Young, H. Peyton, Innovation Diffusion in Heterogeneous Populations (December 28, 2006). Center on Social and Economic Dynamics Working Paper No. 45, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1024811 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1024811

H. Peyton Young (Contact Author)

Brookings Institution ( email )

1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036-2188
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
219
Abstract Views
1,578
Rank
277,139
PlumX Metrics