Scale Free and Dynamic Models of Developement of the Hub and Spokes Networks in the Mediterranean

Abstract

This paper puts forward an analysis suggesting a parallelism between hub and spokes networks in maritime transport and complex networks (such as the world-wide web, www). This possible parallelism is then used to explain the way networks in the Mediterranean may evolve. Since there is at present an on-going process in the Mediterranean involving interaction among countries bordering on the Mediterranean, with the aim of creating a trade area, and since this will result in a different intensity and typology of trade, the paper investigates how this transformation may affect currently existing maritime networks. We believe there is a strong similarity between the development models of scale free networks and hub and spokes transport systems. We thus conclude that the transformations arising from the process of Mediterranean integration will not adversely affect the development of newly integrated countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and may even enhance their expansion. In this context, measures enacted by policy makers are advisable only if they are coherent with and boost spontaneous trends.