Carl Nordlund
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Carl Nordlund 2009. Ecography; International trade, network analysis, and ecological conceptualizations of unequal exchange PhD thesis: University of Lund.
- Abstract. I argue that contemporary (and historical) theories of international trade are not very suitable if we are to understand contemporary global trade and its outcomes regarding resource distribution. One of its most fundamental flaws is its disregard of exchange structures: mainstream (as well as most hederodox) theories of international exchange assumes exchange structures to be total graphs, i.e. where each pair of participating trade partners are free to choose to engage in trade with eachother.
- Inspired with the empirical findings from (structural) economic geography, as well as recent inventions in the neo-classical version of economic geography, I argue that structures of exchange are important for understanding its relationship to resource distribution and the sharing of would-be gains from trade. Based on this disregard of structures in mainstream trade theory, also inspired by the traditional theory-wariness within economic geography, the thesis argues that empirical analyses of actually occuring trade flows are a more viable way to understand issues on trade and development.
- The empirical core of the thesis consists of three chapters in which I apply methods from Social Network Analysis (SNA) on the trade networks of three primary goods during the 1995-99 period, using raw trade data from the Comtrade database. Looking at fuel commodities, (edible) agricultural goods, and forestry commodities, both from their monetary as biophysical dimensions, I test the hypothesis whether structural positionality - centrality and role-position - is related to the ability to appropriate resources, the latter measured in the price-quantity ratios of imports and exports for each commodity group respectively.
Lund Human Ecology publications
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2007 Identifying regular blocks in valued networks: A heuristic applied to the St. Marks carbon flow data, and international trade in cereal products Social Networks 29(1): 59-69.
Carl Nordlund (University of Lund), 2009. Dissertation draft titled, "International trade, network analysis and ecological conceptualizations of unequal exchange."
