] The most crucial aspect of Silicon Valley is its networks. ] There is no proposition so universally agreed upon and so ] little studied. We see two main reasons for this. The ?rst is ] that the analysis of social networks has been mainly the ] province of sociologists, but only in recent years have they ] become interested in industrial organization. The second is ] that methods for systematic study of social networks are of ] very recent origin. ] Thus, in this chapter we will introduce some key ideas about ] social networks, sketch some of the vital institutional sectors ] in Silicon Valley where they operate, and present an initial ] exploration of the formal analysis of how these sectors ] articulate with one another. Social Networks in Silicon Valley |