THE GINI COEFFICIENT'S APPLICATION TO GENERAL COMPLEX NETWORKS

The Gini coefficient, which was originally used in microeconomics to describe income inequality, is introduced into the research of general complex networks as a metric on the heterogeneity of network structure. Some parameters such as degree exponent and degree-rank exponent were already defined in the case of scale-free networks also as a metric on the heterogeneity. In scale-free networks, the Gini coefficient is proved to be equivalent to the parameters mentioned above, and moreover, a classification of infinite scale-free networks is given according to the value of the Gini coefficient.Complex networks, heterogeneity, Gini coefficient, scale-free