A network analysis of global cephalopod trade

The global trade in cephalopods is a multi-billion dollar business involving the fishing and production of more than ten commercially valuable species. It also contributes, in whole or in part, to the subsistence and economic livelihoods of thousands of coastal communities around the world. The importance of cephalopods as a major cultural, social, economic, and ecological resource has been widely recognised, but research efforts to describe the extent and scope of the global cephalopod trade are limited. So far, there are no specific regulatory and monitoring systems in place to analyse the traceability of the global trade in cephalopods at the international level. To understand who are the main global players in cephalopod seafood markets, this paper provides, for the first time, a global overview of the legal trade in cephalopods. Twenty years of records compiled in the UN COMTRADE database were analysed. The database contained 115,108 records for squid and cuttlefish and 71,659 records for octopus, including commodity flows between traders (territories or countries) weighted by monetary value (USD) and volume (kg). A theoretical network analysis was used to identify the emergent properties of this large trade network by analysing centrality measures that revealed key insights into the role of traders. The results illustrate that three countries (China, Spain, and Japan) led the majority of global market movements between 2000 and 2019. Based on volume and value, as well as the number of transactions, 11 groups of traders were identified. The leading cluster consisted of only eight traders, who dominated the cephalopod market in Asia (China, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam), Europe (the Netherlands, and Spain), and the USA. This paper identifies the countries and territories that acted as major importers or exporters, the best-connected traders, the hubs or accumulators, the modulators, the main flow routes, and the weak points of the global cephalopod trade network over the last 20 years. This knowledge of the network is crucial to move towards an environmentally sustainable, transparent, and food-secure global cephalopod trade.

The Changing Shape of the World Automobile Industry: A Multilayer Network Analysis of International Trade in Components and Parts

In 2018, after 25 years of the North America Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the United States requested new rules which, among other requirements, increased the regional con-tent in the production of automotive components and parts traded between the three part-ner countries, United States, Canada and Mexico. Signed by all three countries, the new trade agreement, USMCA, is to go into force in 2022. Nonetheless, after the 2020 Presi-dential election, the new treaty's future is under discussion, and its impact on the automo-tive industry is not entirely defined. Another significant shift in this industry – the acceler-ated rise of electric vehicles – also occurred in 2020: while the COVID-19 pandemic largely halted most plants in the automotive value chain all over the world, at the reopen-ing, the tide is now running against internal combustion engine vehicles, at least in the an-nouncements and in some large investments planned in Europe, Asia and the US. The definition of the pre-pandemic situation is a very helpful starting point for the analysis of the possible repercussions of the technological and geo-political transition, which has been accelerated by the epidemic, on geographical clusters and sectorial special-isations of the main regions and countries. This paper analyses the trade networks emerg-ing in the past 25 years in a new analytical framework. In the economic literature on inter-national trade, the study of the automotive global value chains has been addressed by us-ing network analysis, focusing on the centrality of geographical regions and countries while largely overlooking the contribution of countries' bilateral trading in components and parts as structuring forces of the subnetwork of countries and their specific position in the overall trade network. The paper focuses on such subnetworks as meso-level structures emerging in trade network over the last 25 years. Using the Infomap multilayer clustering algorithm, we are able to identify clusters of countries and their specific trades in the automotive internation-al trade network and to highlight the relative importance of each cluster, the interconnec-tions between them, and the contribution of countries and of components and parts in the clusters. We draw the data from the UN Comtrade database of directed export and import flows of 30 automotive components and parts among 42 countries (accounting for 98% of world trade flows of those items). The paper highlights the changes that occurred over 25 years in the geography of the trade relations, with particular with regard to denser and more hierarchical network gener-ated by Germany’s trade relations within EU countries and by the US preferential trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and the upsurge of China. With a similar overall va-riety of traded components and parts within the main clusters (dominated respectively by Germany, US and Japan-China), the Infomap multilayer analysis singles out which com-ponents and parts determined the relative positions of countries in the various clusters and the changes over time in the relative positions of countries and their specialisations in mul-tilateral trades. Connections between clusters increase over time, while the relative im-portance of the main clusters and of some individual countries change significantly. The focus on US and Mexico and on Germany and Central Eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) will drive the comparative analysis.

Dynamic Evolution of Service Trade Network Structure and Influence Mechanism in Countries along the “Belt and Road” with Big Data Analysis

With the accelerating process of economic globalization, the deep adjustment of the international industrial division of labor, and the continuous upgrading of the global value chain, the development of the service industry has entered into a new historical period. This study analyzes the dynamic evolution of trade network structure at three levels: macro, mesa, and micro, and empirically explores its influencing factors. Taking national service trade as the research object, this study analyzes the topological structural characteristics of the food trade network of “One Belt and One Road” countries by selecting indicators such as network point degree, average path length, trade intensity, intermediation degree, and aggregation coefficient, and further explores the characteristics of association network structure in national service trade network using block model. The topological structural characteristics of the “Belt and Road” trade network are analyzed from three aspects: overall, local, and individual. Then, we construct a regression model to analyze the factors influencing the dynamic evolution of the service trade network structure of the countries along the “Belt and Road” through the QAP method. Finally, based on the summary of the research findings, this study puts forward the corresponding considerations and policy recommendations from the perspectives of regional, directional, and reciprocal investment, to benefit more efficient and strategic national service trade under the framework of “Belt and Road.” Based on the results of this study, this study proposes the following policy recommendations: firstly, actively promote the service trade cooperation with other countries to optimize the market layout; secondly, promote the service industry reform to extend the length of the value chain and improve its position in the value chain; and thirdly, jointly promote the infrastructure construction of “Belt and Road” with other countries, promote trade liberalization, and reduce the trade volume. Secondly, we should promote the reform of the service industry, extend the length of the value chain, and improve our position in the value chain. Finally, we should vigorously promote the development of innovation, promote the two-way opening of new service industries, adhere to the “going out” strategy, and cultivate high-quality and excellent technical talents, to promote the overall improvement of the innovation-driven capacity of the service industry with a people-oriented approach.

Understanding the Role of Humanistic Factors in Trade Network Evolution across the Belt and Road Initiative Countries Using the Exponential Random Graph Model

Humanistic factors have been playing increasingly significant roles in international trade. Recently, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China has drawn worldwide attention. This paper examines the roles of humanistic factors in international trade networks across the BRI countries. Firstly, we analyzed the structural characteristics of the import trade network across the 61 BRI countries and subsequently adopted the cross-sectional exponential random graph model (ERGM) and temporal ERGM to analyze the role of different humanistic factors in the evolution of import trade network from the static and dynamic perspectives, respectively. The results show the following: (I) the network scale of the import trade across the BRI countries has been expanding, the network density of the trade has been increasing gradually, and the “small-world” characteristics of import network are gradually revealed; (II) all of the factors such as a common (official or spoken) language, a common legal origin, a common religious belief, and ever sibling relationship help the BRI countries establish closer import trade ties; and (III) the differences of trade liberalization and financial liberalization, gross domestic product (GDP), and population in different countries also contribute to the evolution of import trade network among the BRI countries, and the countries with relatively higher GDP and greater population are more active in the import trade network.

Research on Global Grain Trade Network Pattern and Its Driving Factors

Trading systems are essential in promoting global food security. With the growing proportion of global food consumption obtained through international trade, the global food trade pattern has become increasingly complex over recent years. This study constructed a weighted global grain network using the trade data of 196 countries in 2000 and 2018 to explore the structure and evolution based on the complex network theory. We established that the global grain network was scale-free. There was significant heterogeneity among nodes, and the heterogeneity of the out-degree was greater than that of the in-degree. The global grain network has a significant core-periphery structure, with the United States, Japan, Mexico, Egypt, South Korea, and Colombia as the core countries. Thereafter, by applying the quadratic assignment procedure model to explore the driving factors of the global grain network, we established that geographical distance had a positive impact on the food trade patterns in 2000 and 2018. This differs from the classical gravity model theory. Furthermore, grain trade had significant “boundary effects”; economic gaps, resource endowment, and regional free trade agreements had a positive impact on the evolution of the grain trade network, whereas cultural similarity and political differences had a negative impact on the grain trade network pattern.

Spatiotemporal Pattern Evolution in Global Green Trade Networks: Implications for Health Economics

Big health industry is an industry that provides whole process and all factor products and services for human comprehensive physical and mental health. With the increasingly close relationship between health and environment, green products take into account the characteristics of environmental protection, resource intensification, safety, and health, so that the green product industry for the purpose of health and environmental protection has become an important branch of the big health industry. To give a clear portrayal of changes in the global green product trade system, this study derives relevant trade data from the World Bank and the UN Comtrade and by analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the global green product trade pattern from 2001 to 2018, and it explores the product structure and status changes of countries (regions) in the global trading system for green products. According to the research findings, the closely connected global trade network for green products continues to expand. This is a typical network comprising “smaller worlds”; the focus of green product exports has largely stayed unchanged, while imports are shifting from North America and East Asia towards North America, Europe, and the Middle East; the spatial structure of the network shows a transition away from the original transcontinental “dual arch” pattern with the United States at the core towards a “transcontinental + intracontinental” one characterized by the coexistence of “multiple arches” centering around Europe and Asia; the trade network adopts a “point-to-point” model, with no obvious interdependence and competition between countries (regions); furthermore, geographically proximate and culturally similar countries are prone to have closer trade ties. By clarifying the global trade network of green products industry under the background of big health industry, it will help to deepen the understanding of the relationship between participating countries, promote the long-term and stable development of national health industry trade, provide the public with more safe and harmless products, better meet the global public’s health needs, and effectively enhance the sustainability of public health.

The Position of Cochinchina (Vietnam) in the Trade with Portugal in the XVI-XVII Period

The sixteenth century is considered the beginning time of trade activities between Vietnam and Western countries after great geographical discoveries in the world, in which Portugal was the pioneer country to establish trade relations wit h Vietnam. Cochinchina, with many favourable factors in terms of human, geography, and goods, was the place to attract Portugal on the way of exchange and establishment of Intra - Asian marine trade network. Thus, what factors led Cochinchina to a strategic position in this trade network, and Portugal had come here to trade with specific characteristics are, and the consequences of this trade process are, is the purpose of this article. Based on analyzing objective and subjective factors, generalizing and systematizing commercial activities between Cochin china and Portugal, the author provides objective assessments of the role of Cochin china in the voyage to The East of the Western countries in the contemporary time.