Skip to main content
Log in

Industrial diversity and economic performance in U.S. areas

The Annals of Regional Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It has often been suggested that economic diversity enhances economic performance, either by promoting higher levels of economic well-being or by improving the ability of regions to cushion the adverse effects of economic cycles. This is the conventional wisdom, but it has not been adequately tested. This study undertakes an investigation of the various aspects of economic diversity to determine whether support can be found for these assumptions by testing them with data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the ten-year period from 1972 to 1981. The results suggest that no strict assumptions should be made regarding a clear relationship between economic diversity and growth and stability of unemployment, and per capita incomebased measure of economic performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Attaran, M. (1984).The Relation of Economic Diversity to Levels, Growth Rates, and Stability of Unemployment and Income (Ph.D. Diss., Portland State University).

  2. Bernhardt, I. and K. D. MacKenzie. (1968). “Measuring Seller Unconcentration, Segmentation, and Product Differentiation,”Western Economic Journal, 6, 395–403.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Conkling, Edgar C. (1963). “South Wales: A Case Study In Industrial Diversification,”Economic Geography, 39(3), 258–272.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Conroy, Michael E. (1975).The Challenge of Urban Economic Development (New York: Lexington Books).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Garrison, Charles. (1974). “Industrial Growth in the Tennessee Valley Regin, 1959 to 1968,”American Agricultural Economics, 56, 50–60.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hackbart, M. M. and D. A. Anderson.(1975). “On Measuring Economic Diversification,”Land Economics, 4, 374–378.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Herniter, Jerome D. (1973). “An Entropy Model of Brand Purchase Behavior,”Journal of Marketing Research, X, 361–375.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Horowitz, Ann and Ira Horowitz. (1976). “The Real and Illusory Virtue of Entropy-Based Measures for Business and Economic Analysis,”Decision Science, 7, 121–135.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Horowitz, Ann and Ira Horowitz. (1970). “Structural Changes in the Brewing Industry,” Applied Economics, 2, 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Horowitz, Ira. (1970). “Employment Concentration in the Common Market: An Entropy Approach,”Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 133 (Part 3), 463–479.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hoover, Edgar. (1948).The Location of Economic Activity (New York; McGraw-Hill).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kuznets, Simon. (1958). “Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations, Part III: Industrial Distribution of Income and Labor Force by States, united States, 1919–1921 to 1955,”Economic Development and Cultural Change, 6, no. 4, Pt. 2, 1–128.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lev, B. (1968). “The Aggregation Problem in Financial Statements: An Information Approach,”Journal of Accounting Research, 6, 247–261.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lev. B. (1970). “The Informational Approach to Aggregation in Financial Statements: Extensions,”Journal of Accounting Research, 8, 78–94.

    Google Scholar 

  15. MacLaughlin, Glenn. (1930). “Industrial Diversification in American Cities,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, 45, 131–149.

    Google Scholar 

  16. MacLaughlin, Glenn. (1938).Growth of American Manufacturing Areas (Pittsburgh, PA: Bureau of Business Research, University of Pittsburgh).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Nourse, Hugh. (1968).Regional Economics (New York: McGraw-Hill).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Nowrocki, D. (1984). “Adaptive Trading Rules and Dynamic Market Disequilibrium,”Applied Economics, 16, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Parr, John B. (1965). “Specialization, Diversification, and Regional Development,”Professional Geography, 6, 21–25.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Perloff, Harvey. (1960).Regions, Resources, and Economic Growth (Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Press).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Philippatos, George C. and Charles J. Wilson. (1972). “Entropy, Market Risk, and the Selection of Efficient Portfolios,”Applied Economics, 6, 209–220.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Richardson, H. W. (1969).Regional Economics (New York: Praeger).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Rodgers, Allen. (1957). “Some Aspects of Industrial Diversification in the United States,”Economic Geography, 33, 16–30.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Shannon, C. E. and W. Weaver. (1949).The Mathematical Theory of Communication (Urbana: The University of Illinois Press).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Thiel, H. (1967).Economics and Information Theory (Amsterdam, Holland: North Holland Publishing Company).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Thiel H. (1969). “On the Use of Information Theory Concepts in the Analysis of Financial Statements,”Management Science, 15, 459–480.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Thiel, H. (1972).Statistical Decomposition Analysis (New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc.).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Thompson, Wilbur. (1956).A Preface to Urban Economics (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Attaran, M. Industrial diversity and economic performance in U.S. areas. Ann Reg Sci 20, 44–54 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01287240

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01287240

Keywords

Navigation