IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0088666.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Geovisual Analytic Approach to Understanding Geo-Social Relationships in the International Trade Network

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Luo
  • Peifeng Yin
  • Qian Di
  • Frank Hardisty
  • Alan M MacEachren

Abstract

The world has become a complex set of geo-social systems interconnected by networks, including transportation networks, telecommunications, and the internet. Understanding the interactions between spatial and social relationships within such geo-social systems is a challenge. This research aims to address this challenge through the framework of geovisual analytics. We present the GeoSocialApp which implements traditional network analysis methods in the context of explicitly spatial and social representations. We then apply it to an exploration of international trade networks in terms of the complex interactions between spatial and social relationships. This exploration using the GeoSocialApp helps us develop a two-part hypothesis: international trade network clusters with structural equivalence are strongly ‘balkanized’ (fragmented) according to the geography of trading partners, and the geographical distance weighted by population within each network cluster has a positive relationship with the development level of countries. In addition to demonstrating the potential of visual analytics to provide insight concerning complex geo-social relationships at a global scale, the research also addresses the challenge of validating insights derived through interactive geovisual analytics. We develop two indicators to quantify the observed patterns, and then use a Monte-Carlo approach to support the hypothesis developed above.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Luo & Peifeng Yin & Qian Di & Frank Hardisty & Alan M MacEachren, 2014. "A Geovisual Analytic Approach to Understanding Geo-Social Relationships in the International Trade Network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0088666
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088666
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088666&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0088666?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mercken, Liesbeth & Snijders, Tom A.B. & Steglich, Christian & de Vries, Hein, 2009. "Dynamics of adolescent friendship networks and smoking behavior: Social network analyses in six European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1506-1514, November.
    2. Lorenzo Cassi & Andrea Morrison & Anne L.J. Ter Wal, 2012. "The Evolution of Trade and Scientific Collaboration Networks in the Global Wine Sector: A Longitudinal Study Using Network Analysis," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(3), pages 311-334, July.
    3. Giorgio Fagiolo, 2010. "The international-trade network: gravity equations and topological properties," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 5(1), pages 1-25, June.
    4. Jukka-Pekka Onnela & Samuel Arbesman & Marta C González & Albert-László Barabási & Nicholas A Christakis, 2011. "Geographic Constraints on Social Network Groups," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-7, April.
    5. Luca De Benedictis & Lucia Tajoli, 2011. "The World Trade Network," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(8), pages 1417-1454, August.
    6. Shade T Shutters & Rachata Muneepeerakul, 2012. "Agricultural Trade Networks and Patterns of Economic Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(7), pages 1-9, July.
    7. Raja Kali & Javier Reyes, 2007. "The architecture of globalization: a network approach to international economic integration," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 595-620, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Litao & Cao, Zhi & Liu, Xiaojie & Shi, Lei & Cheng, Shengkui & Liu, Gang, 2020. "Oil security revisited: An assessment based on complex network analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    2. Assaf Almog & Rhys Bird & Diego Garlaschelli, 2015. "Enhanced Gravity Model of trade: reconciling macroeconomic and network models," Papers 1506.00348, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2019.
    3. Liu, Linqing & Shen, Mengyun & Sun, Da & Yan, Xiaofei & Hu, Shi, 2022. "Preferential attachment, R&D expenditure and the evolution of international trade networks from the perspective of complex networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 603(C).
    4. Belén González Díaz & Leticia Blázquez, 2013. "International Automotive Production Networks: How the web comes together," Working Papers. Serie EC 2013-05, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    5. Fan, Ying & Ren, Suting & Cai, Hongbo & Cui, Xuefeng, 2014. "The state's role and position in international trade: A complex network perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 71-81.
    6. Fredy Cepeda-Lopez & Fredy Gamboa-Estrada & Carlos Leon-Rincón & Hernán Rincon-Castro, 2022. "Colombian Liberalization and Integration into World Trade Markets: Much Ado about Nothing," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 25(2), pages 1-44, December.
    7. Marco Dueñas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2013. "Modeling the International-Trade Network: a gravity approach," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 8(1), pages 155-178, April.
    8. Iván Arribas & Francisco Pérez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2014. "The dynamics of international trade integration: 1967–2004," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 19-41, February.
    9. Yue Pu & Yunting Li & Jinjin Zhang, 2023. "Features and evolution of the ‘Belt and Road’ regional value chain: Complex network analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 2134-2156, July.
    10. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2017. "Networks of Value-added Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1291-1313, July.
    11. Juan Lucio & Raúl Mínguez & Asier Minondo & Francisco Requena, 2016. "Networks and the Dynamics of Firms' Export Portfolio: Evidence for Mexico," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 708-736, May.
    12. A. Baronchelli & T.E. Uberti, 2018. "Exports and FDI: comparing networks in the new millennium," Working Paper CRENoS 201813, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    13. Zongning Wu & Hongbo Cai & Ruining Zhao & Ying Fan & Zengru Di & Jiang Zhang, 2020. "A Topological Analysis of Trade Distance: Evidence from the Gravity Model and Complex Flow Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, April.
    14. Aller, Carlos & Ductor, Lorenzo & Herrerias, M.J., 2015. "The world trade network and the environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 55-68.
    15. Rosanna Grassi & Paolo Bartesaghi & Stefano Benati & Gian Paolo Clemente, 2021. "Multi-Attribute Community Detection in International Trade Network," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 707-733, September.
    16. Nicole Palan & Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo, 2021. "Measuring fifty years of trade globalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(6), pages 1859-1884, June.
    17. Paolo Bartesaghi & Gian Paolo Clemente & Rosanna Grassi, 2020. "Community structure in the World Trade Network based on communicability distances," Papers 2001.06356, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2020.
    18. João Amador & Sónia Cabral & Rossana Mastrandrea & Franco Ruzzenenti, 2018. "Who’s Who in Global Value Chains? A Weighted Network Approach," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(5), pages 1039-1059, November.
    19. Kym Anderson & Joseph Francois & Douglas Nelson & Glyn Wittwer, 2019. "Intra-Industry Trade in a Rapidly Globalizing Industry: The Case of Wine," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kym Anderson (ed.), The International Economics of Wine, chapter 4, pages 91-113, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Yong Tang & Jason Jie Xiong & Zi-Yang Jia & Yi-Cheng Zhang, 2018. "Complexities in Financial Network Topological Dynamics: Modeling of Emerging and Developed Stock Markets," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-31, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0088666. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.