Multiple clocks in network evolution
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Bianchi F.,
Stivala A.,
Lomi A.
Tipo
Articolo pubblicato in rivista scientifica
Anno
2022
Lingua
Inglese
Sommario
Relational event models shift the analytical focus away from network ties defined in terms of transitions between mutually exclusive states of connectivity, to bonding processes emerging from observable flows linking senders and receivers of action. In this framework, the possibility to connect social mechanisms of theoretical interest to sequences of observed relational events depends on the relative speed at which these mechanisms operate. Building on established non-parametric methods in survival analysis, in this paper we introduce a new approach to the analysis of the internal time distribution of relational mechanisms of broad theoretical interest in research on the evolutionary dynamics of social and other kinds of networks. We propose general algorithms that may be adopted to study the time structure of theoretically relevant network mechanisms. We illustrate the practical value of our proposal in an analysis of a large sample of high-frequency financial transactions observed over a period of 11 years. We show how the internal time structure of the social mechanisms that control flows of market transactions is sensitive to institutional change in transaction regimes induced by successive financial crises. The results we report invite reflection on a new notion of network “structure” incorporating change as one of its constitutive elements. The study suggests a number of conjectures that provide broad conceptual bases for the development of testable hypotheses about the forces that shape the evolutionary dynamics of network structure.
Parole chiave
Social mechanisms, Network structure, Relational events, Kaplan-Meier estimator, High-frequency data
Periodico
Methodological innovations
Volume
15
Numero ( Mese )
1
Pagine (o numero dell’articolo)
29–41
Diffusione
Licenza
CC BY-NC
Visibilità
Pubblico
Status open access
Gold
