CSH Talk by Daekyung Lee

Gravity models are commonly used to describe interactions between objects through external variables associated with them. In this talk, I present a self consistent gravity model that, instead, explains trade flows directly from the structure of the network itself. Each country is represented by a latent vector mass inferred from observed trade flows, allowing trade volumes to emerge from interactions between countries rather than predefined external variables. Applied to global trade networks, the framework reveals intrinsic export and import capabilities, relative positions in the global trade landscape, and hidden structural patterns underlying trade dynamics.