The Center for the Study of American Politics Workshop on Quantitative Research Methods presents:
Emily Erikson, Sociology/SOM, Yale University: ““Social Networks and Port Traffic in Early-Modern Overseas Trade.”
The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for the International and Area Studies at Yale is partnering with the Yale Center for the Study of American Politics at ISPS to cosponsor a workshop focused on quantitative research methods. In this seminar series, guest speakers and Yale faculty will present cutting edge research projects in the various fields of the social sciences and biostatistics.
Faculty Organizer: Peter Aronow, Political Science
Graduate Student Coordinator & General Contact: Kassandra Birchler
Staff Coordinator & Contact for Guest Travel: Pamela Greene
An advance paper is available at http://csap.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/erikson.pdf.
Abstract: This paper uses data from the logs of the English East India Company overseas voyages to consider the relationship between social network use and patterns of port traffic. Networks are known to both distribute new information and provide redundant information; they may both lead actors to explore new opportunities and at other times lead actors into redundant, herd-like behavior. Thus the use of networks could impact the distribution of traffic across ports in a trade network, leading to either greater or lesser concentrations of traffic. We explore this possibility across a number of different conditions. The results are intended to contribute to research on the causes driving differences in development trajectories.