Disproportionality Measures of Concentration, Specialization, and Polarization

This paper extends the methodological toolbox of measures of the regional concentration of industries and the industrial specialization of regions. It, first, defines the class of disproportionality measures of concentration and specialization, and proposes a taxonomy that gives rise to a modular construction system for these measures. The taxonomy helps researchers adjust measures flexibly to their research purpose and data. Second, the paper generalizes the taxonomy to (i) disproportionality measures of economic polarization that evaluate specialization and concentration simultaneously, and to (ii) spatial disproportionality measures of industrial concentration that deal with the checkerboard problem and the MAUP.