The International Postal Network and Other Global Flows as Proxies for National Wellbeing.

ABSTRACT: The digital exhaust left by flows of physical and digital commodities provides a rich measure of the nature, strength and significance of relationships between countries in the global network. With this work, we examine how these traces and the network structure can reveal the socioeconomic profile of different countries. We take into account multiple international networks of physical and digital flows, including the previously unexplored international postal network. By measuring the position of each country in the Trade, Postal, Migration, International Flights, IP and Digital Communications networks, we are able to build proxies for a number of crucial socioeconomic indicators such as GDP per capita and the Human Development Index ranking along with twelve other indicators used as benc

SUBMITTER: Hristova D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4889156 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature