Network Analysis

Economic processes, such as trade or innovation development and diffusion, are based on network connections between different interrelated and interacting elements. Network analysis is an approach that is concerned with the examination of the structure and dynamics of these networks. Network analysis can be understood as a theoretical perspective and as a research method. In terms of theory, applying the perspective of network analysis implies to focus on the causes and effects of relations among interconnected elements (rather than on the attributes of these elements). In terms of method, network analysis is a set of different techniques that can be used to analyze networks systematically and describe them statistically.