Abstract
AbstractEconomic complexity highlights the relationship between interdependence (a positional characteristic of elements belonging to a given network or structure) and connectivity (a functional characteristic of elements belonging to a given field of interaction). Positional interdependence (as the one between pieces in a jigsaw puzzle) is central to studies investigating the architecture of a complex system (Simon) while connectivity is central to the analysis of responsiveness patterns in social networks and strategic action fields. This paper discusses the fundamentals of a structural approach to economic and spatial complexity by highlighting the hierarchical arrangement of network elements as a distinctive feature of system identity. The positional distribution of network elements is a fundamental characteristic of complex networks and a central condition constraining the dynamics of those networks through the principle ofrelative structural invariance. The paper investigates the role of this principle by connecting it with the aggregation criterion followed in assigning network elements to specific subsystems. The type of aggregation is essential in determining the resilience properties of the network with respect to specific dynamic impulses. The paper concludes highlighting the need to combine the investigation of positional interdependence with the analysis of connectivity since positional interdependence is fundamental in determining which patterns of connection are more likely to arise (and which ones are excluded), due to the role of alternative properties of relative invariance constraining the feasible transformations in the positions of network elements.
Highlights
Positional Versus Functional InterdependenceAny given network as a structure of mutually related components rests on the fundamental distinction between interdependence and connectivity.1 Elements belonging to a given economic and spatial network may be ‘positionally dependent’ on one another even in the absence of direct interaction between elements within that structure
Positional interdependence is central to studies highlighting what has been called the ‘architecture of complexity’ (Simon 1962), while functional interdependence is central to studies investigating connectivity in social networks and strategic action fields (Goyal 2007; Fligstein and McAdam 2011, 2012)
This paper argues that a structural approach to economic complexity based on the distinction between positions and interactions could account for features of resilience that may otherwise remain unexplained
Summary
Any given network as a structure of mutually related components rests on the fundamental distinction between interdependence (a positional characteristic of elements belonging to that network or structure, such as the relationship between pieces in a jigsaw puzzle) and connectivity (a functional characteristic of elements involved in a domain of mutual responses, such as the relationship between actors in an action field). Elements belonging to a given economic and spatial network may be ‘positionally dependent’ on one another (in the sense that displacement of one element involves displacement of one or more elements within the same topology of possible positions) even in the absence of direct interaction between elements within that structure. This section highlights that the distribution of relative invariances at a given point of time and over time, by determining which changes of relative positions are feasible and which ones are not, is an important factor in explaining the routes taken by the structural dynamics of economic and spatial systems as they steer between different and sometime opposed patterns of resilience
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
