Essays on Inequality, education and social networks

This thesis, titled Essays on Inequality, Education and Social Networks, explores the complex interplay between inequality, individual educational choices, and the social structures that shape economic outcomes. It is composed of three chapters, each addressing a distinct but interrelated dimension of this broad research agenda. The first chapter, Inequality and social mobility: an overview, provides a comprehensive review of the literature on economic inequality, with a particular emphasis on the evolution of the concept of inequality of opportunity. It discusses key developments in the field, including the empirical evidence behind the Great Gatsby Curve, public attitudes toward redistribution, and the impact of inequality on economic growth. The second chapter, Informal networks and education choice: A dynamic macro model, introduces a discrete-time dynamic macroeconomic model with heterogeneous agents. The model incorporates multiple equilibria and exhibits complex dynamics, including chaos. It investigates how homophily in the formation of social groups can reduce the long-run share of educated workers by reinforcing existing inequalities in access to information and resources. The third chapter, Don’t be a stranger! An agent-based representation of higher education networking, presents an agent-based macroeconomic model inspired by the Eurace@Unibi framework. The model focuses on the role of employee referral networks in the labor market. These networks, formed endogenously through social interaction, are shown to play a critical role in hiring decisions. The results highlight how referral-based hiring disproportionately favors individuals from more advantaged backgrounds, thereby reinforcing existing socioeconomic disparities. Together, these chapters offer theoretical and computational insights into how social networks interact with education and labor market mechanisms to perpetuate inequality across generations.