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This article investigates the role of resource dependence in explaining the social structure of policy networks while controlling for the effects of microstructure, such as the tendency for networks to display reciprocity and/or transitive closure. While previous studies have analyzed resource dependence as a factor in decision making in policy networks, surprisingly little is known about the effects of these social factors on the structure of policy networks due, in part, to the statistical challenges in modeling them precisely. However, the recent development of the exponential random graph model technique, a stochastic method for studying social structure, has made it possible to overcome the statistical hurdles. This study draws on longitudinal data collected from an adult basic education policy network during 1998 and 2005 in a state to which we gave the pseudonym “Newstatia.” The findings suggest that decreased …