IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2609.10227.html

Italian Business-to-Business Invoicing Data: A Network Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Valerio Astuti
  • Daniele Piras

Abstract

We present a comprehensive description of the network of Italian Business-to-Business commercial relationships, based on the universe of electronic invoices collected by the Italian Tax Office. The firm-to-firm detail of the data is exploited to describe the distribution of the numbers of buyers (customers) and sellers (suppliers) per firm, the centrality of each firm in the production network, and the average distance between firms. We characterize for the first time the firm-to-firm network describing the Italian production system, and present its geographic and sectoral breakdown. The analysis reveals heavy tailed distributions for the numbers of buyers and sellers per firm, implying a scale-free structure of the network. The distributions of centrality values display heavy tails as well, indicating a strong concentration of importance in a relatively small number of firms. We estimate the tail exponents for all these distributions, finding in all cases lower exponents for downstream (buyer-side) distributions than for the upstream (seller-side) ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Valerio Astuti & Daniele Piras, 2026. "Italian Business-to-Business Invoicing Data: A Network Analysis," Papers 2609.10227, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2609.10227
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.10227
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Takayuki Mizuno & Wataru Souma & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2014. "The Structure and Evolution of Buyer-Supplier Networks," CARF F-Series CARF-F-339, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    2. Emmanuel Dhyne & Ayumu Ken Kikkawa & Magne Mogstad & Felix Tintelnot, 2021. "Trade and Domestic Production Networks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(2), pages 643-668.
    3. Vasco M. Carvalho, 2014. "From Micro to Macro via Production Networks," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    4. Bacilieri, Andrea & Borsos, András & Astudillo-Estévez, Pablo & Hoefer, Mads & Lafond, François, 2026. "Firm-level production networks: What do we (really) know?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    5. Abhijit Banerjee & Arun G Chandrasekhar & Esther Duflo & Mathew O. Jackson, 2014. "Gossip: Identifying Central Individuals in a Social Network," Working Papers id:5925, eSocialSciences.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Asuman Ozdaglar & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2010. "Cascades in Networks and Aggregate Volatility," NBER Working Papers 16516, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Marta C. González & César A. Hidalgo & Albert-László Barabási, 2009. "Understanding individual human mobility patterns," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7235), pages 238-238, March.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Vasco M. Carvalho & Asuman Ozdaglar & Alireza Tahbaz‐Salehi, 2012. "The Network Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(5), pages 1977-2016, September.
    9. Vasco M. Carvalho & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2019. "Production Networks: A Primer," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 635-663, August.
    10. Réka Albert & Hawoong Jeong & Albert-László Barabási, 1999. "Diameter of the World-Wide Web," Nature, Nature, vol. 401(6749), pages 130-131, September.
    11. Y. Fujiwara & H. Aoyama, 2010. "Large-scale structure of a nation-wide production network," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 77(4), pages 565-580, October.
    12. H. Jeong & S. P. Mason & A.-L. Barabási & Z. N. Oltvai, 2001. "Lethality and centrality in protein networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 411(6833), pages 41-42, May.
    13. S. Redner, 1998. "How popular is your paper? An empirical study of the citation distribution," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 131-134, July.
    14. Andrew B. Bernard & Andreas Moxnes & Yukiko U. Saito, 2019. "Production Networks, Geography, and Firm Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 639-688.
    15. Leo Katz, 1953. "A new status index derived from sociometric analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 18(1), pages 39-43, March.
    16. Andrew B. Bernard & Emmanuel Dhyne & Glenn Magerman & Kalina Manova & Andreas Moxnes, 2022. "The Origins of Firm Heterogeneity: A Production Network Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(7), pages 1765-1804.
    17. Rama Cont & Amal Moussa & Edson B Santos, 2013. "Network structure and systemic risk in banking systems," Post-Print hal-00912018, HAL.
    18. Réka Albert & Hawoong Jeong & Albert-László Barabási, 2000. "Error and attack tolerance of complex networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 406(6794), pages 378-382, July.
    19. Andrew G. Haldane & Robert M. May, 2011. "Systemic risk in banking ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 469(7330), pages 351-355, January.
    20. Chiara Criscuolo & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Louise Guillouet & Guy Lalanne & Francesco Manaresi, 2024. "Estonia’s firm-level production network: Lessons for industrial policy," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2024/13, OECD Publishing.
    21. David Rezza Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2019. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Microeconomic Shocks: Beyond Hulten's Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1155-1203, July.
    22. Takayuki Mizuno & Wataru Souma & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2014. "The Structure and Evolution of Buyer-Supplier Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-10, July.
    23. Hassan Afrouzi & Andres Drenik & Ryan Kim, 2020. "Growing by the Masses - Revisiting the Link between Firm Size and Market Power," CESifo Working Paper Series 8633, CESifo.
    24. E. Dhyne & C. Duprez, 2016. "Three Regions, three economies ?," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue iii, pages 59-73, December.
    25. Pagani, Giuliano Andrea & Aiello, Marco, 2013. "The Power Grid as a complex network: A survey," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(11), pages 2688-2700.
    26. Xavier Gabaix, 2011. "The Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 733-772, May.
    27. Daron Acemoglu & Asuman Ozdaglar & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2013. "The Network Origins of Large Economic Downturns," NBER Working Papers 19230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Mizuno, Takayuki & Souma, Wataru & Watanabe, Tsutomu, 2014. "The Structure and Evolution of Buyer-Supplier Networks," Working Paper Series 27, Center for Interfirm Network, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    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. Bacilieri, Andrea & Borsos, András & Astudillo-Estévez, Pablo & Hoefer, Mads & Lafond, François, 2026. "Firm-level production networks: What do we (really) know?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    2. Mundt, Philipp, 2021. "The formation of input–output architecture: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 89-104.
    3. Mungo, Luca & Lafond, François & Astudillo-Estévez, Pablo & Farmer, J. Doyne, 2023. "Reconstructing production networks using machine learning," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Leonidov, Andrey & Serebryannikova, Ekaterina, 2019. "Dynamical topology of highly aggregated input–output networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 518(C), pages 234-252.
    5. Thomas J. Sargent & John Stachurski, 2022. "Economic Networks: Theory and Computation," Papers 2203.11972, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    6. Huang, Hanwei & Manova, Kalina & Perello, Oscar & Pisch, Frank, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and imperfect competition in global production networks," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126808, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. repec:ces:ceswps:_11302 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Emmanuel Dhyne & Ayumu Ken Kikkawa & Glenn Magerman, 2022. "Imperfect Competition in Firm-to-Firm Trade," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1933-1970.
    9. Hazem Krichene & Abhijit Chakraborty & Hiroyasu Inoue & Yoshi Fujiwara, 2017. "Business cycles’ correlation and systemic risk of the Japanese supplier-customer network," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Elliott, M. & Jackson, M. O., 2024. "Supply Chain Disruptions, the Structure of Production Networks, and the Impact of Globalization," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2424, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    11. Ernest Liu & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2021. "Dynamical Structure and Spectral Properties of Input-Output Networks," Working Papers 2021-13, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    12. Connell, William & Hoang, Viet-Ngu & Wilson, Clevo & Nghiem, Xuan-Hoa, 2025. "The effects of sectoral productivity shocks on sectoral output growth in OECD countries: A new decomposition," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 269-280.
    13. Bougheas, Spiros & Harvey, David I. & Kirman, Alan & Nelson, Douglas, 2024. "Systemic risk in banking, fire sales, and macroeconomic disasters," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Yoshiyuki ARATA & Daisuke MIYAKAWA, 2022. "Demand Shock Propagation Through an Input-output Network in Japan," Discussion papers 22027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Vipin P. Veetil & Lawrence H. White, 2017. "Towards a New Austrian Macroeconomics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 19-38, March.
    16. Arata, Yoshiyuki & Miyakawa, Daisuke, 2024. "Demand shock propagation through input-output linkages in Japan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 262-283.
    17. Diego Vallarino, 2026. "Hall-Like Transversal Stress and Sandpile Criticality on Real Production Networks," Papers 2605.01561, arXiv.org.
    18. Armando Rungi & Loredana Fattorini & Kenan Huremović, 2023. "Measuring the input rank in global supply networks," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(10), pages 3081-3115, October.
    19. Everett Grant & Julieta Yung, 2019. "Upstream, Downstream & Common Firm Shocks," Globalization Institute Working Papers 360, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    20. Yoshiyuki ARATA, 2020. "The Role of Granularity in the Variance and Tail Probability of Aggregate Output," Discussion papers 20027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    21. Dong, Feng & Wen, Yi, 2019. "Long and Plosser meet Bewley and Lucas," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 70-92.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2609.10227. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arxiv.org/ .

    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.