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Social relations are crucial for understanding diverse economic actions and a network perspective is central to that explanation. Simple exchanges involving money, labor, and commodities combine into complexly connected systems. Economic networks span many levels of analysis, from persons (consumers, employees), to groups (households, workteams), organizations (corporations, interest groups), populations (industries, markets) and the rapidly expanding global economic system.David Knoke blends network theories from a range of disciplines and empirical studies of domestic and international economies to illuminate how economic activity is embedded in and constrained by social ties among economic actors. Social capital, in the form of connections to others holding valuable resources, is vital for finding a job, buying a car, creating a new industry, or triggering a global financial crisis. In nontechnical terms the author explicates the core network concepts, measures, and analysis methods behind these phenomena. The book also includes many striking network diagrams to provide visual insights into complex structural patterns.This accessible book offers an invaluable critique for both undergraduate and graduate students in economic sociology and social network analysis courses who seek a better understanding of the multifaceted economic webs in which we are all entangled.

Economic Networks

ContentsFiguresPreface1 Economics and Social NetworksMainstream and Alternative Economic TheoriesThe Economic Sociology PerspectiveThe Social Network PerspectiveSummary and Outline of the Book2 Markets and NetworksLabor MarketsConsumer MarketsProducer MarketsSummary3 Networks Inside OrganizationsMicro-Network ConceptsSocial CapitalForming Employee NetworksNetwork OutcomesTeam NetworkingSummary4 Networks Among OrganizationsBusiness Start-Up NetworksBusiness GroupsInterlocking DirectoratesStrategic AlliancesEvolution of Interorganizational NetworksSummary5 Global NetworksInternational NetworksSupply and Commodity ChainsWorld Cities NetworksA Transnational Capitalist Class?Networks of the Global Financial CrisisSummary6 Looking ForwardTheory ConstructionEmpirical ToolsConnecting Economy and PolityAppendix: Network ResourcesReferencesIndex