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to the way you would view them on a map. Each country is then assigned
a unique color, stepping through the full 360 degrees of the color wheel
in equal increments going around the circle. The result is that countries
that are physically closer to each other tend to have colors that are more
similar. Because cost of transportation is a significant factor in trade, you
would expect countries that are physically closer to exchange more goods.
By arranging and coloring countries in this way, you can more clearly see
patterns and anomalies in that regard.
Because the color of each chord indicates the dominant direction of flow,
you can easily spot net exporters and net importers. Saudi Arabia, China,
and the Netherlands, for example, have relatively uniformly colored chords,
indicating they are net exporters, whereas the United States, Britain, and
France are clearly net importers.
Patterns in the curvature of chords also tell a story. Germany is linked to
many countries, but chords connecting them tend to bend more quickly,
revealing how much of German trade is within Europe. No wonder, then,
that Germany has such a vested interest in the economic health of the
European Union (EU). By contrast, trade lines from the United States more
often cross the circle to farther countries, implying higher transportation
costs and, by extension, greater sensitivity to the price of oil, as well as the
political and economic stability of oil-producing nations.
The relative distribution of chords within each exporter reveals patterns of
economic dependency. Although Germany may be relatively dependent on
export within the EU, look at how heavily the economies of Canada and
Mexico rely on sales in the neighboring United States alone. Similarly, but
to a lesser degree, notice how Australia relies on exports to nearby China,
Japan, and South Korea, which are themselves net exporters, typically of
manufactured goods. Interestingly, Canada, Mexico, and Australia have
strong resource economies, implying that geographic proximity seems to be
of greater advantage for sale of raw materials than it is for other goods and
that, as a result, resource economies tend to be more exclusively reliant on
the economic health of nearby importers.
Constructing a Chord Diagram
Chorddiagramsarearelativelyspecializedbreedofchart.Youwillfindmost
are built with the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) based JavaScript library
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