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

J Stat Softw. 2008 May 1;24(3):nihpa54860. doi: 10.18637/jss.v024.i03.

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 interrelated, 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.