Abstract

The study of networks and network science has grown in the last decade, but most network models fail to capture the costs or loss of value of exclusion from the network. Intuitively, as a network grows in size and value, those outside the network face growing disparities. In this paper, we present a new framework for modeling network exclusion. We find most leading academic framings for network value are based on membership within the network, and not exclusion from it. Second, if we shift from an inclusion to an exclusion framing, over time the disparity (or cost) of exclusion becomes roughly exponential, regardless of the underlying nature of the network or its value. Third, while we recognize that calculating the costs of exclusion is inherently difficult, we conclude that exclusion from a network imposes costs not only on those excluded but also on those within the network or society overall. This analysis applies to all network domains, whether communications, energy, transportation, health-care, biodiversity, etc., Fourth, populations excluded from a network will often resort to alternative or parallel networks, for which most modeling falls short (including multi-dimensionality and interconnections between the networks). Resort to alternative networks may attenuate but does not automatically eliminate the increasing costs of exclusion from a superior network. Future scholarly work on this subject should seek to capture both the bright side of network inclusion as well as the ‘dark side’ of the costs of exclusion.

Our complementary framing says “The more people included within and enjoying the benefits of a network, the more the costs of exclusion grow exponentially to the excluded, and spread across multiple dimensions and impose additional costs even on those who are networked included.” This new direction is relevant too for the design of policy interventions as well as for shifting the scholarly research agenda toward greater focus on inequality and exclusion.