The
Social Structure of World Trade Advantage:
Structural Autonomy and Contingent Value, 1965-1980
Michael
Alan Sacks, Brian Uzzi, and Marc Ventresca
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.
Michael Alan Sacks, Department
of Organization Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management,
Northwestern University
Brian uzzi, Department of Organization Behavior,
Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
Marc Ventresca, Department of Organization Behavior,
Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
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