title: Modeling diffusion of innovations in a social network.
abstract: A simple model of diffusion of innovations in a social network with upgrading costs is introduced. Agents are characterized by a single real variable, their technological level. According to local information, agents decide whether to upgrade their level or not, balancing their possible benefit with the upgrading cost. A critical point where technological avalanches display a power-law behavior is also found. This critical point is characterized by a macroscopic observable that turns out to optimize technological growth in the stationary state. Analytical results supporting our findings are found for the globally coupled case.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Física Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guardiola
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Díaz-Guilera
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arenas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Llas