Before revision: Globalization has created an international financial network of countries linked by trade in goods and assets. These linkages allow for more efficient resource allocation across borders, but also create potentially hazardous financial interdependence, such as the great financial distress caused by the 2010 threat of Greece 's default or the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. Increasingly, the tools of network science are being used as a means of articulating in a quantitative way measures of financial interdependence and stability .
After revision: The recent financial crisis of 2008 and the 2011 indebtedness of Greece highlight the importance of understanding the structure of the global financial network .