Bipartite networks provide new insights on international trade markets

Abstract

Adam Smith is considered the father of modern economics. His research on the Wealth of Nations [10] is the first scientific work that theorized about the complexity of economic systems and how an invisible hand self-regulates markets and their behavior. In this way, we study international trade markets as complex networks. We analyze their topological properties, structure and temporal dynamics based on actual data. Our main premise states that trade networks are bipartite in nature because importers and exporters play a different role in the system. We apply a methodology developed for mutualistic ecosystems, finding minor gaps in it. We address such gaps by using well-known techniques from other related scientific work. The evidence supports the fact that our premise is a realistic hypothesis.