Network Topology Analysis for Systemic Risk Prediction

Jan 10, 2026 · 1 min read
projects

This project corresponds to my CESMA thesis on systemic risk prediction in U.S. equity markets. The underlying question is simple but important: can network topology say something useful about market stress before standard indicators do?

Using daily data from 210 S&P 500 constituents (2013-2025), the project combines dynamic correlation networks with machine learning models ranging from gradient boosting to Graph Neural Networks such as GraphSAGE and GAT. The goal is not just classification accuracy, but economic usefulness under realistic validation and backtesting constraints.

The most interesting result is that network-derived signals appear to carry genuine early-warning information, especially around severe and structurally fragile market states. In the strongest configurations, the framework improves both timing and trading performance relative to simpler baselines.

This project is paired with the related thesis page, where the same work is presented as a publication entry.

Stefano Blando
Authors
PhD Student in Artificial Intelligence
Stefano Blando is a PhD student in the National PhD Program in Artificial Intelligence at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the University of Pisa. His research lies at the intersection of AI, agent-based modeling, and economics. He studies adaptive multi-agent systems, statistical verification of economic simulations, and robust quantitative methods for financial and socio-economic data.