The Social Structure of World Trade Advantage: Structural Autonomy and Contingent Value, 1965-1980

Michael Alan Sacks, Brian Uzzi and Marc Ventresca

IPR working papers from Institute for Policy Resarch at Northwestern University

Abstract: Recent network arguments advance theory on inequality and comparative advantage by using structural autonomy to investigate the effects of social capital on performance. These network approaches update the theory and methodology of centrality analysis, but at the same time are subject to criticism for their inattention to the dynamics and contextual factors within larger social structures. We motivate social capital arguments at the world system level, through the analysis of world trade flows and nation status, 1965-1980, with specific attention to contextual changes in the world system of trade and differential effects on nations within it. We generate measures of structural autonomy based on world trade data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Index and incorporate these measures into models of nation status. We find support for the overall positive effects of structural autonomy on nation status, but reveal that these effects are mediated by contingencies such that network position only leads to positive returns for certain nations within specific time periods. Through a series of quantile regressions, we outline the contingent effects of social capital in the world system.

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:nwuipr:98-12

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