Prominence and control: The weighted rich-club effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new framework to analyze how prominent elements in complex systems form exclusive clubs that control most resources, shedding light on hierarchical organization across various fields.

Contribution

It proposes a novel general framework for studying the rich-club effect, linking prominence and control in complex systems.

Findings

Prominent elements tend to form exclusive clubs controlling resources.

The framework applies to transportation, scientific collaboration, and online communication.

Hierarchical organization is characterized by rich-club phenomena.

Abstract

Complex systems are often characterized by large-scale hierarchical organizations. Whether the prominent elements, at the top of the hierarchy, share and control resources or avoid one another lies at the heart of a system's global organization and functioning. Inspired by network perspectives, we propose a new general framework for studying the tendency of prominent elements to form clubs with exclusive control over the majority of a system's resources. We explore associations between prominence and control in the fields of transportation, scientific collaboration, and online communication.