Summary

Prevent crises by predicting the transfer of shocks through the world economy. Users can adjust assumptions, investigate the predicted chains of shocks, and identify ways to avoid a crisis.

Overview

ShockNet allows users to adjust assumptions, investigate the predicted chains of shocks through the world economy, and identify ways to avoid economic crises by gaining visibility into how and why shocks spread. ShockNet includes an app that allows policymakers to visualize and adjust the model to better understand how to offset or avoid a future crisis.

Inspiration

The contestant started from the Graph for Better Finance problem statement, focusing on preventing crises by allowing policymakers to investigate how difficulties or decisions in one country can spread to another country. They came up with a model that can show how shocks spread, and an app to allow policymakers to visualize and adjust the model to help them understand how best to avoid a future crisis or cushion the blow from a current one.

What it does
ShockNet has distilled data of economic cross-linkages (e.g. Mexico exports $10B of oil to Nicaragua; the production of Petroleum products in Nicaragua uses $2B of oil imports). These have been derived from the Global Trade Analysis Project GTAP database. The software uses these cross-linkages to predict how supply shocks will spread through the world economy.