Network Diversity and Economic Development

Network for Recovery A long-standing theory suggests that social diversity leads to economic development. By combining the United Kingdom's telephone communication records (both landline and mobile) with information on regional economic conditions, Eagle et al. (p. 1029) demonstrate that network diversity alone accounts for over three-quarters of the variance of a region's economic status. Although the data cannot be used to show causality, the association suggests that economic development and recovery may depend not solely on monetary stimulus but also on the development of a nation's social infrastructure. Social diversity is associated with economic development. Social networks form the backbone of social and economic life. Until recently, however, data have not been available to study the social impact of a national network structure. To that end, we combined the most complete record of a national communication network with national census data on the socioeconomic well-being of communities. These data make possible a population-level investigation of the relation between the structure of social networks and access to socioeconomic opportunity. We find that the diversity of individuals’ relationships is strongly correlated with the economic development of communities.

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