Rationalizing protests – From individuals to networks

We propose a theory model on network goods to explain protest participation: (i) under weak network effects, the standalone benefit of individuals drive participation; (ii) under strong network effects, expected participation by others influences choices. Using survey data from the American National Election Studies, we construct a spatial autoregressive model to identify network benefits and measure standalone benefits with proxy variables. We find larger network benefits for left-leaning individuals, followed by right-leaning and moderates, with the opposite pattern for standalone benefits. Our estimates and the model's implications offer new insights into the size of current protest movements in the US.