Abstract - Cooccurrence Measures in Economic Geography

Measures of cooccurrence computed from cross-sectional data are crucial for understanding connections among economic activities. This work provides a foundation for unifying various similarity techniques used in the literature, emphasizing the identification of cooccurrence as actual coexistence in space, particularly when small administrative areas are involved.

All the similarity techniques studied here resemble a correlation structure derived from spatial intensity, also known as locational correlation. We argue that these correlations serve as objective tools to detect spatial patterns. Specifically, when applied to employment data by industry and county in the United States (from 2002-2007), the communities of networks derived from locational correlations reveal spatial patterns long recognized in economic geography.

By addressing critical open issues regarding the interpretation of cooccurrence indices, this work provides technical guidance for their application in Economic Geography studies.