Exponential random graph model parameter estimation for very large directed networks

Abstract

Exponential random graph models (ERGMs) are widely used for modeling social networks observed at one point in time. However the computational difficulty of ERGM parameter estimation has limited the practical application of this class of models to relatively small networks, up to a few thousand nodes at most, with usually only a few hundred nodes or fewer. In the case of undirected networks, snowball sampling can be used to find ERGM parameter estimates of larger networks via network samples, and recently published improvements in ERGM network distribution sampling and ERGM estimation algorithms have allowed ERGM parameter estimates of undirected networks with over one hundred thousand nodes ..