Complex Networks on Macroeconomics and Finance: Models, Methods, Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The analysis of networks has primarily been the domain of the subfield of discrete mathematics, commonly referred to as graph theory. Graph theory analyzes systems consisting of nodes and the edges that connect them. The origin of graph theory is traced back to the renowned problem surrounding the bridges of Königsberg in 1736, which was analyzed by Leonhard Euler. He studied the unfeasible cycle path passing over all seven bridges of the Königsberg city. The concept of complex networks, instead of graph theory, emerged from a need scientists faced when encountering networks of entities so vast that monitoring each entity became either insufficient or impossible. This need arose with the study of social networks, which focused on human relationships, in the first half of the 20th century (friendship networks, inter-group relations, and scientific co-authorship networks). Since then, the interest in complex networks has been sparked by technological advances and their resulting applications: transportation networks, telecommunication networks (first wired and now wireless data transfer), internet and WWW, biological and genetic networks.

In economics, in many applications, it is useful to study each economic entity as an individual agent, i.e., firm, consumer, producer, country, etc. In this setting, we can focus and analyze the inter-relations between these agents and compare the evolution of these complex associations over time. This approach becomes increasingly relevant as the relationships between economic agents become dense and complex. This is the result of new technologies, e-commerce, e-trading, globalization, proliferation of international trade and financial transactions and recently the increasing relevance of cryptocurrencies. All these complex economic relationships can be better studied using the tools of complex network analysis. In this setting, the nodes represent agents, such as banks, countries, stocks, currencies, commodities, firms, etc. The edges describe various specific relationships, such as loans, trade, migration flows, similarity, correlation, and concordance. Applications range from monitoring a network, for example, the resilience of a banking network, to identifying critical nodes and calculating shortest or longest paths, e.g., analysis of the dispersion of events of economic distress, including the propagation of a financial crisis, industry specific bankruptcies, non-performing loans, etc.

The goal of this Special Issue is to explore the topological models of economic networks, the methods to study these networks, and their applications in all areas of economics: macroeconomics, microeconomics, and finance. We welcome all theoretical and empirical contributions on such networks.

Prof. Dr. Theophilos Papadimitriou
Prof. Dr. Periklis Gogas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Economies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• economic and financial network models
• structural analysis of economic networks
• dynamics on economic networks
• mathematical analysis of economic networks
• economic complex network monitoring
• synchronization on economic networks
• multilayered complex networks
• resilience and robustness of economic networks
• crisis dispersion on economics networks