Economic Networks

Networks of relationships help determine the careers that people choose, the jobs they obtain, the products they buy, and how they vote. The many aspects of our lives that are governed by social networks make it critical to understand how they impact behavior, which network structures are likely to emerge in a society, and why we organize ourselves as we do. In Social and Economic Networks, Matthew Jackson offers a comprehensive introduction to social and economic networks, drawing on the latest findings in economics, sociology, computer science, physics, and mathematics. He provides empirical background on networks and the regularities that they exhibit, and discusses random graph-based models and strategic models of network formation. He helps readers to understand behavior in networked societies, with a detailed analysis of learning and diffusion in networks, decision making by individuals who are influenced by their social neighbors, game theory and markets on networks, and a host of related subjects. Jackson also describes the varied statistical and modeling techniques used to analyze social networks. Each chapter includes exercises to aid students in their analysis of how networks function. This book is an indispensable resource for students and researchers in economics, mathematics, physics, sociology, and business.

Social relations are crucial for understanding diverse economic actions and a network perspective is central to that explanation. Simple exchanges involving money, labor, and commodities combine into complexly connected systems. Economic networks span many levels of analysis, from persons (consumers, employees), to groups (households, workteams), organizations (corporations, interest groups), populations (industries, markets) and the rapidly expanding global economic system. David Knoke blends network theories from a range of disciplines and empirical studies of domestic and international economies to illuminate how economic activity is embedded in and constrained by social ties among economic actors. Social capital, in the form of connections to others holding valuable resources, is vital for finding a job, buying a car, creating a new industry, or triggering a global financial crisis. In nontechnical terms the author explicates the core network concepts, measures, and analysis methods behind these phenomena. The book also includes many striking network diagrams to provide visual insights into complex structural patterns. This accessible book offers an invaluable critique for both undergraduate and graduate students in economic sociology and social network analysis courses who seek a better understanding of the multifaceted economic webs in which we are all entangled.

Social and Economic Networks in Cooperative Game Theory presents a coherent overview of theoretical literature that studies the influence and formation of networks in social and economic situations in which the relations between participants who are not included in a particular participant's network are not of consequence to this participant. The material is organized in two parts. In Part I the authors concentrate on the question how network structures affect economic outcomes. Part II of the book presents the formation of networks by agents who engage in a network-formation process to be able to realize the possible gains from cooperation.

Today it appears that we understand more about the universe than about our interconnected socio-economic world. In order to uncover organizational structures and novel features in these systems, we present the first comprehensive complex systems analysis of real-world ownership networks. This effort lies at the interface between the realms of economics and the emerging field loosely referred to as complexity science. The structure of global economic power is reflected in the network of ownership ties of companies and the analysis of such ownership networks has possible implications for market competition and financial stability. Thus this work presents powerful new tools for the study of economic and corporate networks that are only just beginning to attract the attention of scholars.

Networks provide the foundation for the functioning of our societies and economies. Their study has a long tradition in such fields as engineering, operations research, management science and computer science. More recently, the disciplines of finance and economics have to be rich sources of network-based problems and applications. This volume of contributions from international scholars provides a wealth of innovations in the study of financial and economic networks. graph, the evolutions of financial systems as networks, the incorporation of electronic transactions in international finance (from a network perspective), new formalisms for the study of supply chains (as fluid models and in a network economic framwork) and new applications of agent-based computational economics trade network intermediaries and worker-employer networks. Finally, trade networks in web-based caching are introduced. transaction costs, integrated pension and corporate planning, evolutionary financial networks, international finance and electronic transactions as well as hedging instruments for transportation networks. Innovative approaches to economic networks are developed in the context of supply chain distribution networks, a variety of trade (including web-based caching) networks and even worker-employer networks.

This book presents the latest findings on network theory and agent-based modeling of economic and financial phenomena. In this context, the economy is depicted as a complex system consisting of heterogeneous agents that interact through evolving networks; the aggregate behavior of the economy arises out of billions of small-scale interactions that take place via countless economic agents. The book focuses on analytical modeling, and on the econometric and statistical analysis of the properties emerging from microscopic interactions. In particular, it highlights the latest empirical and theoretical advances, helping readers understand economic and financial networks, as well as new work on modeling behavior using rich, agent-based frameworks. Innovatively, the book combines observational and theoretical insights in the form of networks and agent-based models, both of which have proved to be extremely valuable in understanding non-linear and evolving complex systems. Given its scope, the book will capture the interest of graduate students and researchers from various disciplines (e.g. economics, computer science, physics, and applied mathematics) whose work involves the domain of complexity theory.

Jackson also describes the varied statistical and modeling techniques used to analyze social networks.

Network economics is a new, rapidly developing field. In this volume theoretical and empirical contributions are collected, each deals with different aspects of the network economy. The book assesses networks as a complement to pure market relations and studies innovation networks and strategic alliances among innovative corporations. Product differentiation and specialization in reciprocal networks are emphasised as a strategy of sustainable development. The book presents econometric methods of barrier and network analysis, including communication and trade patterns.