@Abhishek_Nagaraj_Berkeley - did you and your team posit any alternatives to the “social learning” method of decision-making at play here? Or was that outside the scope of the paper?
Super interesting (and maybe concerning?) that the decisions of branded chains were uncorrelated with local Covid conditions. How large was the sample size on which this was calculated, though? The paper mentions a case in Collin County, Texas, but I’m assuming there was a larger set.
In case you don’t know him - I wanted to introduce you to @Abhishek_Nagaraj_Berkeley . One of his research areas of focus was store closure decisions during Covid-19.
@Mohsen_Bahrami_MIT have you seen this paper? Any thoughts on the methodology?
thanks! I didnt know this other work by @Mohsen_Bahrami_MIT – very interesting!
and yes, the mechanisms are always tough. “Social Learning” is an umbrella term for all kinds of sub mechanisms through which one group shapes another’s decisions. Initially we had used the term “social influence” which was stronger, but ended up with this broader/weaker term in the end.
Hi @Abhishek_Nagaraj_Berkeley : we had some staff changes the week of your talk, and unfortunately, your talk’s recording was lost in the process I’m so sorry! It was such a wonderful talk.