Replication Data for: Addressing Endogeneity in Actor-Specific Network Measures

The study of international relations (IR), and political science more broadly, has derived great benefits from the recent growth of conceptualizing and modeling political phenomena within their broader network contexts. More than just a novel approach to evaluating the old puzzles, network analysis provides a whole new way of theoretical thinking. Challenging the traditional dyad-driven approach to the study of IR, networks highlight actor interdependence that goes beyond dyads and emphasizes that many traditional IR variables, such as conflict, trade, alliances, or international organization memberships must be treated and studied as networks. Properties of these networks (e.g., polarization, density), and of actor positions within them (e.g., similarity, centrality), will then reveal important insights about international events. Network analysis, however, is not yet fully adapted to account for important methodological issues common to IR research, specifically the issue of endogeneity or possible nonindependence between actors' position within international networks and the outcomes of interest: e.g. alliance network may be nonindependent from the conflict or trade network. We adopt an instrumental variables approach to explore and address the issue of endogeneity in network context. We illustrate the issue and the advantages of our approach with Monte Carlo analysis, as well as with several empirical examples from IR literature.国际关系（International Relations，以下简称IR）乃至更宽泛的政治学研究，近年来得益于将政治现象置于更广阔的网络语境中进行概念化与建模的研究范式兴起而获益颇丰。网络分析不仅是破解过往学术谜题的新颖研究路径，更为理论思考提供了全新范式。网络分析挑战了传统的双边导向型IR研究范式，凸显了超越双边关系的行为体相互依存性，并强调诸多传统IR研究变量——如冲突、贸易、同盟或国际组织成员国身份——均应被视作网络展开研究与分析。这些网络的属性（如极化程度、网络密度）以及行为体在网络中的位置特征（如相似性、中心性），将为解读国际事件提供重要的学术洞见。然而，网络分析尚未完全适配IR研究中常见的重要方法论难题，具体包括内生性问题，即国际网络中行为体位置与所关注的研究结果之间可能存在的非独立性问题：例如同盟网络或许与冲突或贸易网络并非相互独立。本研究采用工具变量法，对网络语境下的内生性问题展开探究并予以解决。我们通过蒙特卡洛（Monte Carlo）分析以及IR研究领域的若干实证案例，阐释了该问题及本研究方法的优势。