IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wsr/wpaper/y2010i062.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measurement of Specialization – The Choice of Indices

Author

Abstract

This paper compares nine common specialization indices, discussing their properties, strengths and weaknesses. In order to unravel the differences between the indices they are applied to European employment structures in 2005, spanning 51 industries and 24 European countries. The resulting heterogeneity levels differ largely between relative and absolute specialization measures, but also within these two groups of indices. As results are highly dependent on which measure is employed, it is important to be aware of carefully choosing appropriate indices in empirical studies in order to attain appropriate conclusions and conduct sound economic policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicole Palan, 2010. "Measurement of Specialization – The Choice of Indices," FIW Working Paper series 062, FIW.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsr:wpaper:y:2010:i:062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.fiw.ac.at/fileadmin/Documents/Publikationen/Working_Paper/N_062-Palan.pdf
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: none
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brulhart, Marius & Traeger, Rolf, 2005. "An account of geographic concentration patterns in Europe," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 597-624, November.
    2. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-625, April.
    3. Palan, Nicole & Schmiedeberg, Claudia, 2010. "Structural convergence of European countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 85-100, May.
    4. Clarke, Roger & Davies, Stephen & Waterson, Michael, 1984. "The Profitability-Concentration Relation: Market Power or Efficiency?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 435-450, June.
    5. Davis, Donald R, 1998. "The Home Market, Trade, and Industrial Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1264-1276, December.
    6. Karl Aiginger & Stephen W. Davies, 2004. "Industrial specialisation and geographic concentration: Two sides of the same coin? Not for the European Union," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 7, pages 231-248, November.
    7. Michael J. Wasylenko & Rodney A. Erickson, 1978. ""On Measuring Economic Diversification": Comment," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(1), pages 106-109.
    8. Juan Antonio Duro Moreno, 2001. "Cross-country inequalities in aggregate welfare: some evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(6), pages 403-406.
    9. Mary Amiti, 1999. "Specialization patterns in Europe," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 135(4), pages 573-593, December.
    10. Frank A. Cowell, 1980. "On the Structure of Additive Inequality Measures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(3), pages 521-531.
    11. Marcel P. Timmer & Mary O’Mahony & Bart van Ark, 2007. "EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts: An Overview," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 14, pages 71-85, Spring.
    12. Michel Beine & Serge Coulombe, 2007. "Economic integration and the diversification of regional exports: evidence from the Canadian--U.S. Free Trade Agreement," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 93-111, January.
    13. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel & Simpson, Helen, 2004. "The geographic distribution of production activity in the UK," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 533-564, September.
    14. Roberto Ezcurra & Pedro Pascual, 2007. "Spatial Disparities in Productivity in Central and Eastern Europe," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 5-32, June.
    15. Cowell, F.A., 2000. "Measurement of inequality," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 87-166, Elsevier.
    16. Karl Aiginger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2004. "The Single Market and Geographic Concentration in Europe," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, February.
    17. Merlin M. Hackbart & Donald A. Anderson, 1975. "On Measuring Economic Diversification," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 374-378.
    18. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    19. Leslie Hannah & J. A. Kay, 1977. "The Measurement of Concentration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Concentration in Modern Industry, chapter 4, pages 41-63, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1984. "Inequality Decomposition by Population Subgroups," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(6), pages 1369-1385, November.
    21. William Acar & Kizhekepat Sankaran, 1999. "The myth of the unique decomposability: specializing the Herfindahl and entropy measures?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(10), pages 969-975, October.
    22. André Sapir, 1996. "The effects of Europe's international market program on production and trade: a first assessment," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8162, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    23. Ellison, Glenn & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Geographic Concentration in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 889-927, October.
    24. Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura & Begoña García-Greciano & José Luis Raymond, 1999. "Regional Convergence in Productivity and Productive Structure: The Spanish Case," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 35-53, April.
    25. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    26. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Overman, Henry G., 2004. "The spatial distribution of economic activities in the European Union," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 64, pages 2845-2909, Elsevier.
    27. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-920, July.
    28. Leslie Hannah & J. A. Kay, 1977. "Concentration in Modern Industry," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-02773-6.
    29. Dagum, Camilo, 1997. "A New Approach to the Decomposition of the Gini Income Inequality Ratio," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 515-531.
    30. Michael Storper & Yun-chung Chen, 2002. "Trade and the location of industries in the OECD and European Union," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 73-107, January.
    31. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    32. Chris Gratton, 1979. "Industrial Diversification in New Towns," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 16(2), pages 157-164, June.
    33. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    34. Karl Aiginger & Stephen W. Davies, 2004. "Industrial Specialisation and Geographic Concentration: Two Sides of the Same Coin? Not for the European Union," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 231-248, November.
    35. Maurel, Francoise & Sedillot, Beatrice, 1999. "A measure of the geographic concentration in french manufacturing industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 575-604, September.
    36. Karl Aiginger & Wolfgang Leitner, 2002. "Regional concentration in the United States and Europe: Who follows whom?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(4), pages 652-679, December.
    37. Percoco, Marco & Dall'erba, Sandy & Hewings, Geoffrey, 2005. "Structural Convergence of the National Economies of Europe," MPRA Paper 1380, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    38. K.H. Midelfart & H.G. Overman & S.J. Redding & A.J. Venables, 2000. "The location of European industry," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 142, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    39. Amiti, Mary, 1998. "New Trade Theories and Industrial Location in the EU: A Survey of Evidence," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 45-53, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cutrini, Eleonora, 2009. "Using entropy measures to disentangle regional from national localization patterns," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 243-250, March.
    2. Brulhart, Marius & Traeger, Rolf, 2005. "An account of geographic concentration patterns in Europe," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 597-624, November.
    3. HAEDO, Christian & MOUCHART, Michel, 2012. "A stochastic independence approach for different measures of concentration and specialization," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012025, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    4. Palan, Nicole & Schmiedeberg, Claudia, 2010. "Structural convergence of European countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 85-100, May.
    5. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Overman, Henry G., 2004. "The spatial distribution of economic activities in the European Union," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 64, pages 2845-2909, Elsevier.
    6. Natalia Vechiu & Farid Makhlouf, 2014. "Economic integration and specialization in production in the EU27: does FDI influence countries’ specialization?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 543-572, March.
    7. Jens Suedekum, 2006. "Concentration and Specialization Trends in Germany since Re-unification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(8), pages 861-873.
    8. Maria Tsiapa, 2014. "Industrial Concentration Patterns of the European Union," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(3), pages 5-33.
    9. Stéphane Mussard & Françoise Seyte & Michel Terraza, 2006. "La décomposition de l’indicateur de Gini en sous-groupes : une revue de la littérature," Cahiers de recherche 06-11, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    10. Frances Ruane & Xiaoheng Zhang, 2007. "Location Choices of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Europe after 1992," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp220, IIIS.
    11. Trejo Nieto , Alejandra Berenice, 2010. "The geographic concentration in Mexican manufacturing industries, an account of patterns, dynamics and explanations: 1988-2003," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 18, pages 37-60.
    12. Nicole Palan, 2015. "Konzentrations- und Ungleichheitsindizes – ein Überblick am Beispiel der Textilindustrie," Working Paper Series, Social and Economic Sciences 2015-02, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz.
    13. Eleonora Cutrini, 2005. "The Balassa Index meets the Theil Index - a Decomposition Methodology for Location Studies," ERSA conference papers ersa05p123, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Helena Marques, 2008. "Trade And Factor Flows In A Diverse Eu: What Lessons For The Eastern Enlargement(S)?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 364-408, April.
    15. Henry Overman & Stephen Redding & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Economic Geography of Trade, Production, and Income: A Survey of Empirics," CEP Discussion Papers dp0508, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Simonetta Longhi & Peter Nijkamp & Iulia Traistaru, 2003. "Determinants of Manufacturing Location in EU Accession Countries," ERSA conference papers ersa03p310, European Regional Science Association.
    17. Frances Ruane & Xiaoheng Zhang, 2007. "Where do MNEs Expand Production: Location Choices of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Europe after 1992," Papers WP211, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    18. Eleonora CUTRINI, 2006. "The Balassa Index Meets the Dissimilarity Theil Index: a Decomposition Methodology for Location Studies," Working Papers 274, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    19. Eleonora Cutrini & Ben Gardiner & Ron Martin, 2023. "EU integration and the geographies of economic activity: 1985–2019," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(2), pages 274-302, March.
    20. Traistaru, Iulia & Nijkamp, Peter & Longhi, Simonetta, 2002. "Regional specialization and concentration of industrial activity in accession countries," ZEI Working Papers B 16-2002, University of Bonn, ZEI - Center for European Integration Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    specialization indices; industry structure; comparison of indices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsr:wpaper:y:2010:i:062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.