Dynamic Analysis of Iran's Trade Pattern in the Framework of Regional Agreements: A Network Approach

In present study, Iranian trade network has been analyzed in the world trade network using a complex network approach and the role of trade agreements in ECO, D8 and Organization of Islamic Cooperation. To achieve this purpose, the data of 150 countries during 2010-2019 has been investigated through complex network approach and Louvain Community Detection Algorithm. This lead to recognize trade communities and situation of Iran among some selected business communities using indices of centrality, clustering and density. In order to study the role of regional trade agreements, business communities were compared with the network of trade agreements through the use of Information theory criterion. The results showed that Iran has been in Asia-Africa trade community during the years. The findings related to density and clustering index demonstrated the improvement in multilateral trade relations between the countries. However, the centrality indices indicated the decline in Iran's position in 2019 compared to 2010 in the mentioned trade community. The criterion of Information Theory revealed that trade agreements have not played important role in countries’ decisions related to trade so that this role has been decreased within this period in the global trade network. Consequently, the importance of transregional countries in domestic trade is very vital.