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Geographic Concentration of Economic Activity: An aggregate index

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  • Olga Alonso-Villar
  • Coral del Río

Abstract

This paper first proposes a measure, the mutual information index derived from the information theory, to quantify overall concentration from an axiomatic perspective. The analysis reveals that this overall concentration measure can be written as the weighed sum of the Theil index for each sector of the economy (partial concentration). Next, the generalized entropy family of concentration indexes is characterized in terms of basic axioms borrowed from the literature on income distribution and occupational segregation. Finally, these measures are used to analyze the spatial patterns of manufacturing industries in Spain along the last three decades, paying special attention to their technological intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2009. "Geographic Concentration of Economic Activity: An aggregate index," Working Papers 0901, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    • Handle: RePEc:vig:wpaper:0901
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral Del RÍo, 2012. "Concentration of Economic Activity: Inequality-Based Measures," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 223-246, June.
    2. Toni Mora & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Montserrat Millet, 2010. "Cross-national Neighbouring Effects on European Regional Specialization," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 271-290, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Geographic concentration; Inequality measures; Segregation measures;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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