Here.
From:
Curtis Kephart
Daniel Friedman
Matt Baumer
UC Santa Cruz
We analyze a complete set of transactions, more than 40 million within a 1.8 year span, from an on-line trading community. We construct weekly trader networks and weekly goods networks, and track them over time using network-theoretic metrics such as node strength, assortativity, betweenness and closeness. The trading platform was designed to make barter exchange as attractive as possible; money was not part of the design and all players were created equal. Yet, within weeks, several specific goods emerged as media of exchange, and later various sorts of specialized traders began to appear. Eventually trade was predominantly money-mediated and market makers played a major role. Our results illustrate how network analysis can capture the spontaneous emergence of economic institutions.
Very interesting paper.
From:
Curtis Kephart
Daniel Friedman
Matt Baumer
UC Santa Cruz
We analyze a complete set of transactions, more than 40 million within a 1.8 year span, from an on-line trading community. We construct weekly trader networks and weekly goods networks, and track them over time using network-theoretic metrics such as node strength, assortativity, betweenness and closeness. The trading platform was designed to make barter exchange as attractive as possible; money was not part of the design and all players were created equal. Yet, within weeks, several specific goods emerged as media of exchange, and later various sorts of specialized traders began to appear. Eventually trade was predominantly money-mediated and market makers played a major role. Our results illustrate how network analysis can capture the spontaneous emergence of economic institutions.
Very interesting paper.