Seminar

Does “distance” really matter for distance-based measures of geographic concentration

Florence Puech (Université de Lyon II)

March 2, 2010, 14:00–15:30

Toulouse

Room MF 323

Statistics Seminar

Abstract

Distance-based methods have been recently improved to evaluate the geographic concentration of economic activities. For these methods, the measurement of distances between all pairs of establishments is crucial. The Euclidean metric is systematically retained in the economic literature even though the location of activities is clearly constrained by the network (roads) or natural advantages (like rivers). In the article, we discuss the relevance of the Euclidean distance as a proxy of the actual network-based distance at an urban scale. It is shown on the Lyon area (France) that the significant relative geographic concentration or dispersion of stores is systematically underestimated when the Euclidean metric is used.