2012/23 | LEM Working Paper Series | |
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The International-Migration Network |
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Giorgio Fagiolo, Marina Mastrorillo |
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Keywords | ||
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Migration, Complex Networks, International Migration Network, Community Detection, Gravity Models
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JEL Classifications | ||
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O15, F22
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Abstract | ||
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This paper studies international migration from a complex-network
perspective. We define the international-migration network (IMN) as
the weighted-directed graph where nodes are world countries and links
account for the stock of migrants originated in a given country and
living in another country at a given point in time. We characterize
the binary and weighted architecture of the network and its evolution
over time in the period 1960-2000. We find that the IMN is organized
around a modular structure characterized by a small-world pattern
displaying disassortativity and high clustering, with power-law
distributed weighted-network statistics. We also show that a
parsimonious gravity model of migration can account for most of
observed IMN topological structure. Overall, our results suggest that
socio-economic, geographical and political factors are more important
than local-network properties in shaping the structure of the IMN.
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