A gentle introduction to network

analysis

Part 1-Basic concepts

Jasmine Mondolo
j.mondolo@staff.univpm.it
Main topics (23.11 > 07.12)

• Introduction to network analysis (basic concepts and network

structure)

• Some economic applications of network analysis (e.g., the network of

international trade)

• Network analysis applied to patent data

Schedule

• 23.11, 15.30-18.30, T3
• 24.11, 10.00-13.00, T3
• 29.11, 15.30-17.30, T7
• 30.11, 15.30-18.30, T3
• 01.12, 10.00-13.00, T3
• 05.12, 10.00-13.00, T3
• 06.12, 15.30-17.30, T7
Definition of networks

• A graph/network* is basically a collection of nodes/vertices and

edges/links/ties. The nodes are the individuals/actors, the “entities” of the
network, while the edges are the connections/relationships between the
nodes

The hinge of networks is interdependence

*mathematical + sociological influence

 Nodes and edges

• Nodes [nodes’ attributes]

generally one type of nodes
(one-mode network)

• Edges tangible/intangible
weighted/unweighted
directed/undirected

Visual representation: sociogram (Moreno, 1934; Cartwright and Harary, 1977)

Directed and undirected networks
Unweighted and weighted networks
Examples of networks

• Social networks* (including online communities; Facebook vs Twitter)

• Economic networks (real, such as trade and FDI networks, production

networks, network of firms, or financial, such as credit default swaps/CDS
networks or interbank networks)

• Technological networks (e.g., the World Wide Web, the Internet, transportation
networks)

• Natural-world networks (e.g., metabolic networks, food networks, disease

networks, neural networks within the brain)

Networks are often regarded as «webs without spiders»

Examples of networks

Metabolic network (Delplanke et al., 2018) Food network (Little Rock Lake, WI, USA; Yoon et al., 2005)
 Examples of networks

Network of friendships in Facebook Network of terrorists involved in the attack of 11.09.2001 (www.orgnet.com)
 Examples of networks
Map of World Trade in Goods as a Geographical Network (major two export partners), 2007

Note: for each country, only the export flows toward the first and second trade partner are considered. Country
labels are the iso3 country codes. The size of the circle associated with each country is proportional to the number of
inflows. Different colors correspond to different geographical regions. Trade data come from BACI-CEPII dataset.
A real-world example: Apollo 13 Movie Network

This is the network of the main actors starring in the Apollo 13

movie

Connections between pairs of actors are

based on the previous participation
to at least another movie
 Adjacency list
• If an edge exists between nodes, we say they are adjacent

• The relationships in a network can be described by an adjacency list

Adjacency matrix
Another representation: the adjacency matrix

It is a nxn matrix (n= number of nodes); in the case of undirected networks,

it is symmetric
 Adjacency matrix
Some additional simple examples
 Paths and Shortest Path Lengths
• Path: series of steps from one node to another in a network, without
repetition

• Shortest Path (Length): the shortest route/path connecting two nodes

• It is also called geodesic distance
• The longest among all the shortest
path lengths is called diameter
 Connectedness
• Two nodes are connected if there is a path between them

• A network is connected if there is a path between every pair of nodes (vs

disconnected network: there are at least two groups –components- of nodes that
are not connected to each other)

• [Directed networks can be strongly or weakly connected]

• Networks exhibit different levels of connectedness/connectivity
 Hubs, bridges and Subnetworks
• A hub is a node with a high number of edges

• A bridge is a node which,if removed,makes the network disconnected («rigorous»

definition)

• A subnetwork is simply any subset of nodes and edges in a graph

• Three particular types of subnetworks: cliques, clusters and egocentric networks

Cliques

A collection of nodes that are all directly connected to one another

 Clustering and clusters

• A cluster is a group of nodes that are tightly connected (typically, more

than the network is as a whole), typically on the basis of some common
attribute(s)

• Various reasons for clustering, depending on the type of network

• Large literature on the origins, diffusion, performance etc. of industrial
clusters/districts

• Related concept in social contexts: homophily (“birds of a feather flock

together”) tendency of individuals to form tightly knit groups with other
individuals displaying a/some certain feature/s
• Possible causes: gender, age, occupation, education level, social status, ethnicity, political
preferences…
 Egocentric Networks
• The egocentric network of a node is a type of subnetwork which specifically
maps the connections of and from the perspective of a certain focal node (the
“ego”)

• D’s egocentric network of degree/depth 1 we have gone one step from the focal
node to its “alters” or (nearest) neighbors

• D’s egocentric network of degree 1.5 we have gone one step out from D to get
all of the nodes it is connected to, and then we have made an extra half step by
putting in the connections between D’s alters

• We may also consider the D’s egocentric network of degree 2 (it goes two steps out from D,
i.e., alters + the alters of the alters), of degree 2.5, 3 etc.
NOTE: sometimes the expression “egocentric network of degree 1” refers also to the edges
between the ego’s alters (/alters of alters for degree 2 and so on)
What we learnt so far

• Definition of networks and of its main elements

• Weighted vs unweighted networks
• Directed vs undirected networks
• Real-world examples of networks
• Data representation of networks (sociogram, adjacency list, adjacency
matrix)
• Connected vs adjacent nodes
• Connected vs disconnected networks
• Paths and shortest paths
• Hubs
• Subnetworks (including cliques, clusters and egocentric networks)