Imitation and Heterogeneity Shape the Resilience of Community Currency Networks

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Ancona, Camilla, Ricci, Dora, Bernardo, Carmela, Iudice, Francesco Lo, Proskurnikov, Anton, Vasca, Francesco
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866918081425571840
author Ancona, Camilla
Ricci, Dora
Bernardo, Carmela
Iudice, Francesco Lo
Proskurnikov, Anton
Vasca, Francesco
author_facet Ancona, Camilla
Ricci, Dora
Bernardo, Carmela
Iudice, Francesco Lo
Proskurnikov, Anton
Vasca, Francesco
contents Community currency networks are made up of individuals and or companies that share some physical or social characteristics and engage in economic transactions using a virtual currency. This paper investigates the structural and dynamic properties of such mutual credit systems through a case study of Sardex, a community currency initiated and mainly operating in Sardinia, Italy. The transaction network is modeled as a directed weighted graph and analyzed through a graph theoretic framework focused on the analysis of strongly connected components, condensed representations, and behavioral connectivity patterns. Emphasis is placed on understanding the evolution of the network's core and peripheral structures over a three year period, with attention to temporal contraction, flow asymmetries, and structural fragmentation depending on different user types. Our findings reveal persistent deviations from degree based null models and suggest the presence of behavioral imitation, specifically, a user preference for more active peers. We further assess the impact of heterogeneous connections between different type of users, which strengthen the network topology and enhance its resilience.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_02678
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Imitation and Heterogeneity Shape the Resilience of Community Currency Networks
Ancona, Camilla
Ricci, Dora
Bernardo, Carmela
Iudice, Francesco Lo
Proskurnikov, Anton
Vasca, Francesco
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Community currency networks are made up of individuals and or companies that share some physical or social characteristics and engage in economic transactions using a virtual currency. This paper investigates the structural and dynamic properties of such mutual credit systems through a case study of Sardex, a community currency initiated and mainly operating in Sardinia, Italy. The transaction network is modeled as a directed weighted graph and analyzed through a graph theoretic framework focused on the analysis of strongly connected components, condensed representations, and behavioral connectivity patterns. Emphasis is placed on understanding the evolution of the network's core and peripheral structures over a three year period, with attention to temporal contraction, flow asymmetries, and structural fragmentation depending on different user types. Our findings reveal persistent deviations from degree based null models and suggest the presence of behavioral imitation, specifically, a user preference for more active peers. We further assess the impact of heterogeneous connections between different type of users, which strengthen the network topology and enhance its resilience.
title Imitation and Heterogeneity Shape the Resilience of Community Currency Networks
topic Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02678