Location Quotients

Location quotients are a simple, widely used technique, primarily in economic geography, to measure how specialized the structure of the economy of a given study region is in comparison with a reference region (typically the country). They compare regional structural composition with that of the reference region by assessing an industry's share of a total regional economy relative to its share nationally. Usually, location quotients use employment data, although they can be used with any other kind of relevant information, such as output. Thus, in its simplest terms, a location quotient (LQ) can be defined as

None

In mathematical terms,

None

where

eir = employment in industry i in region r,

etr = total employment in region r,

eib = employment in industry i in reference region b, and

etb = total ...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles