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on Network Economics |
| By: | Ziruo Chen; Bifei Tian; W. Robert Reed (University of Canterbury); Zhengxin Wang |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically investigates the effects of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on entrepreneurship through the lens of social network analysis (SNA), focusing on two key network characteristics: centrality and brokerage. We begin by developing a set of hypotheses regarding how a country’s position within the BIT network influences entrepreneurial activity. These hypotheses are tested using a panel dataset of 102 countries spanning 2006–2018. We also examine how these relationships are moderated by economic development and trade integration, and whether they vary across different types of entrepreneurship—including formal vs. informal, male vs. female, and domestic vs. international entrepreneurship. Our findings indicate that centrality has a positive effect on entrepreneurship, while brokerage exerts a negative influence. Moreover, both economic development and trade integration are found to weaken these effects. We also observe differential impacts of BIT network structure across the various entrepreneurship subgroups. |
| Keywords: | BITs network; Entrepreneurship; Centrality; Brokerage; Economic development; Trade integration |
| JEL: | F21 L26 F63 F15 |
| Date: | 2025–04–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:25/06 |
| By: | Iftikhar, Ilaria Giannoccaro & Anas |
| Abstract: | The ripple effect refers to disruption propagation across the supply network affecting its global performance. To cope with it, supply networks should be resilient. This study investigates the drivers of supply network resilience, viewed as adaptive capacity to disruptions, focusing on trust and investigating the moderating role of network topology on the relationship between trust and resilience. We first develop an NK agent-based model of the supply network to simulate resilient performance. Then, a simulation analysis is carried out, to assess the effect of trust on the resilience of supply networks displaying different complex topologies. Our results confirm that trust positively affects supply network resilience; however, across the different topologies, the beneficial effect of trust varies. In particular, we find that trust is beneficial at most for the following topologies: local, small-world, block-diagonal, and random. For centralised, diagonal, and hierarchical topologies improving trust increases resilience at a moderate level. We also find that, as the frequency of disruptions rises, the positive effect of trust on resilience decreases. Managerial implications of the main findings are finally discussed |
| Date: | 2023–06–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:2spt3_v1 |
| By: | Paola Conconi; Fabrizio Leone; Glenn Magerman; Catherine Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a new explanation for the dominance of multinational corporations (MNCs) in international trade: after being acquired by an MNC, firms face lower entry frictions in countries in which their global parent already has a presence. We provide a model of firms’ export and import choices that delivers firm-level gravity regressions to isolate these “MNC network effects” from other channels through which multinational ownership can affect firms’ trade participation. We estimate the model combining rich administrative data for Belgium with data on MNCs’ global affiliate networks. Event study results reveal that acquired firms are more likely to start exporting to and importing from countries that belong—or that are exogenously added—to their parental network. The effects are stronger when new affiliates are geographically and culturally close to their direct parent, which can facilitate transfer of information about the global parent’s network. Combining the structure of our model with the empirical estimates, we find that MNC network effects have a large impact on firm growth. The effects of MNC ownership extend beyond the boundaries of the multinational: new affiliates are also more likely to start trading with countries that are geographically and culturally close to the MNC network, even if their parent has no affiliates there. |
| Date: | 2025–03–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:1071 |
| By: | César Ducruet; Dimitris Tsiotas; Bruno Marnot; Barbara Polo Martin; Hidekazu Itoh; Elyass Sayd |
| Abstract: | Port infrastructure and related freight flows that support international trade are not distributed evenly across the globe, but are instead heavily concentrated in a few hubs and gateways. Remoteness from such key nodes is a major barrier to overall development, while overconcentration leads to the congestion and vulnerability of transport and supply chains. Advancing the maritime accessibility of smaller ports in favor of a more balanced development has so far been unsuccessful. Due to its closeness with trade and socio-economic welfare making it highly strategic, maritime connectivity has attracted international efforts to accurately measure it through a wide array of studies in the past two decades . Here we develop a novel analysis of the global maritime network, over the last 140 years (1880-2020), based on untapped vessel movement data published by the insurer Lloyd’s List. Our results demonstrate that while the network has become more optimal to connect the global market, its topological and spatial structure became increasingly sparse and vulnerable to crises and shocks. We also show that contrary to what is commonly claimed, containerization prolonged rather than initiated the contemporary transformation of the maritime network. |
| Keywords: | complex networks; connectivity; international trade; maritime transport; ports |
| JEL: | N90 O18 F14 L90 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-14 |
| By: | Rossana Mastrandrea (Department of Management, University of Turin, Torino, Italy); Fabio Montobbio (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy – ICRIOS, Bocconi University, Milano, Italy – BRICK, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Torino, Italy); Gabriele Pellegrino (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy); Massimo Riccaboni (IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy – IUSS, Pavia, Italy); Valerio Sterzi (Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE), University of Bordeaux, CNRS, UMR 6060, Bordeaux, France) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the roles of public and private sector actors in the development of mRNA vaccines, a breakthrough innovation in modern medicine. Using a dataset of 151 core patent fam- ilies and 2, 416 antecedent (cited) patents, we analyze the structure and dynamics of the mRNA vaccine knowledge network through network theory. Our findings highlight the central role of biotechnology firms, such as Moderna and BioNTech, alongside the crucial contributions of univer- sities and public research organizations (PROs) in providing foundational knowledge. We develop a novel credit allocation framework, showing that universities, PROs, government and research cen- ters account for at least 27% of the external technological knowledge base behind mRNA vaccine breakthroughs—representing a minimum threshold of their overall contribution. Our study offers new insights into pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovation dynamics, emphasizing how Mod- erna and BioNTech’s mRNA technologies have benefited from academic institutions, with notable differences in their institutional knowledge sources. |
| Keywords: | breakthrough innovation, innovation networks, patent analysis, mRNA vaccines, COVID- 19 |
| JEL: | I10 I18 L65 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0047 |