eprintid: 1342
rev_number: 10
eprint_status: archive
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/00/13/42
datestamp: 2012-09-11 08:24:52
lastmod: 2014-01-13 10:32:53
status_changed: 2012-09-11 08:24:52
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Riccaboni, Massimo
creators_name: Rossi, Alessandro
creators_name: Schiavo, Stefano
creators_id: massimo.riccaboni@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
title: Global networks of trade and bits
ispublished: pub
subjects: HB
subjects: QA75
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: public
keywords: JEL Classification:  F14; L86; O33 - Keywords:  Internet; International trade; Network analysis; Distance; Outsourcing; Hypergeometric
note: Published online: 25 August 2012
abstract: Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to produce detailed topologies of the Internet, but so far these data have been overlooked by economists. In this paper, we suggest that such information could be used to characterize both the size of the digital economy and outsourcing at country level. We analyse the topological structure of the network of trade in digital services (trade in bits) and compare it with the more traditional flow of manufactured goods across countries. To perform meaningful comparisons across networks with different characteristics, we define a stochastic benchmark for the number of connections among each country-pair, based on hypergeometric distribution. Original data are filtered so that we only focus on the strongest, i.e. statistically significant, links. We find that trade in bits displays a sparser and less hierarchical network structure, which is more similar to trade in high-skill manufactured goods than total trade. Moreover, distance plays a more prominent role in shaping the network of international trade in physical goods than trade in digital services.
date: 2013-04
date_type: published
publication: Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination
publisher: Springer
pagerange: 33-56
id_number: 10.1007/s11403-012-0101-x
refereed: TRUE
issn: 1860-711X
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11403-012-0101-x
citation:   Riccaboni, Massimo and Rossi, Alessandro and Schiavo, Stefano  Global networks of trade and bits.  Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination.  pp. 33-56.  ISSN 1860-711X      (2013)  
document_url: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1342/1/JEIC_Preprint_Riccaboni_Rossi_Schiavo_2012.pdf