ergm: A Package to Fit, Simulate and Diagnose Exponential-Family Models for Networks

Abstract

We describe some of the capabilities of the ergm package and the statistical theory underlying it. This package contains tools for accomplishing three important, and inter-related, tasks involving exponential-family random graph models (ERGMs): estimation, simulation, and goodness of fit. More precisely, ergm has the capability of approximating a maximum likelihood estimator for an ERGM given a network data set; simulating new network data sets from a fitted ERGM using Markov chain Monte Carlo; and assessing how well a fitted ERGM does at capturing characteristics of a particular network data set.

Keywords

• exponential-family random graph model
• Markov chain Monte Carlo
• maximum likelihood estimation
• p-star model