Analysis of the structure of world trade

• Grant number: 13/11997-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computer Systems
• Principal Investigator: Francisco Aparecido Rodrigues
• Grantee: Livia Akemi Hotta
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/02946-1 - The dynamics of the world trade web, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Commercial transactions represent the main channel of communication between countries. With the process of globalization that began after the Second World War, the world economy has become increasingly linked, creating a complex structure of interconnection. Such an organization can be represented by a complex network, where vertices represent countries that are connected according to business transactions. That is, the connections are defined by the rates of import and export between nations in a specific year. With the development of the theory of complex networks, it is possible to characterize the topology of world trade and thereby check their patterns of connections, shaping its evolution and analyzing dynamic processes in such networks. This analysis of world trade not only allows the study of trade in goods and services, but also helps identify the channels through which they propagate the global financial crisis as well as the evolution of these crises. Thus, this project objective to analyze the structure of the evolution of world trade considering networks with and without weights on the edges. In addition to determine which factors influence the rate of import and export, as the level of infrastructure and human development, as well as analyze the geographical influence on business transactions. Moreover, we determine the communities of networks obtained and analyze which attributes are shared by countries belonging to the same community. We will also investigate the hierarchical organization and the presence of motifs. Finally, we relate the network of world trade network with the financial market, so check as a network influence the organization of another. Thus, this study will complement several works related to the world trade organization, quantifying how such structure is interfered by economic and social factors, as well as verifying these systems mutually influence each other.