UC Irvine

The dissertation comprises three empirical papers, each analyzing a novel network-structured dataset across three different contexts: enterprises, social networks, and academic collaborations. The first study uncovers the largely unexplored area of enterprise exits in the context of Shenzhen’s electronics manufacturing industry. It reveals the spillover effects of such exits on neighboring firms, with significant neighborhood effects found at the industry group level but not the industry class level. The second paper challenges the "Death of Distance" proposition by examining how geographical proximity continues to influence online social networks. It deciphers the complex interplay between physical distances and users’ online behaviors, presenting country-specific patterns in how distance affects the likelihood of link formation. Particularly, proximity dependence appears to be stronger for potential in-person connections and weaker for strong social ties. The final study capitalizes on the disruptive force of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic collaboration. It elucidates how peer effects and co-authorship dynamics influence the productivity of economics scholars. The peer effect is significant in the pre-pandemic period but not during the pandemic period, enhancing the understanding of how research collaborations shape knowledge production.