Measuring global financial linkages: A network entropy approach

Abstract

This paper measures the diversity of highly-connected financial networks using network entropy, and policy-related findings emerge from this research. With respect to the time variation of network entropy, international diversification of the global financial network constructed from foreign claims of international banks has decreased since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, while foreign claims among 20 reporting countries have concentrated more on core countries, such as the US and UK, since 2009. This change is more vividly captured by network entropy due to an unprecedented drop in the measurement. The results suggest that network entropy has promising potential in the financial market.