Stochastically reconstructing business production networks using maximum entropy

Analysing business production networks is a pioneering field for national statistical institutes. A combination of available data and reconstruction techniques makes it possible to map out business relations between firms within a system. Given the limits of the information that is available for the Netherlands, it is hard to map out these networks. The application of network reconstruction methods are the main focus of this paper. These reconstruction techniques are applied to the Dutch interfirm trade-network, i.e. the commodity trading activity between firms in the Netherlands. The focus is networks from a static point of view i.e. looking at the configuration of the networks at a certain point in time. It is, however, also interesting to look at the time-dimension of such networks. For these time-dependent networks certain dynamical indicators can be investigated. This way one can see the effects of changes to the network when links appear/ disappear or when weights get adjusted.