Network Analysis for Economic, Business and Financial History: Methodological Advances and Applications

This book presents a state-of-the-art picture of advances in social network research for economic, business, and financial historians. It showcases recent development in the methodology and application of social network analysis to historical research and draws out the unique benefits for economic history and related fields.

Social network analysis is increasingly understood to be an important part of historical research, allowing scholars to balance qualitative investigation with rigorous quantitative techniques. Through a global set of case studies spanning ancient, medieval, early modern and modern history, this edited volume demonstrates the interpretative potential of various SNA approaches to different sets of historical data. The chapters contribute to methodological understanding of SNA in economic history, as well as showing through the case studies how network analysis can decode complex social and economic interactions over time, making visible those relational patterns that were invisible to contemporary historical actors. This cutting-edge resource will be appeal widely to academics in economic, business and financial history, as well as statistics researchers and social scientists looking to strengthen their quantitative research skills.