The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas
1
Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, 254 Simin-daero, Anyang-si 431-712, Korea
2
Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3137, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Giuseppe Ioppolo
Sustainability 2016, 8(9), 963; https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090963
Received: 23 June 2016 / Revised: 13 September 2016 / Accepted: 14 September 2016 / Published: 21 September 2016
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
Scholars have recently been debating how economic structure affects regional economic performance. Regional economic structure typically indicates how the industries in regions are organized. The attribute of industrial organization in regions is typically measured by how the employment in a region is distributed among various sectors. If the employment in a region is highly concentrated on a limited number of sectors, that region is industrially specialized. On the contrary, when the employment is more evenly distributed among various industries, that region is highly diversified in its industrial organization. In this context, some researchers recognized that diversity and specialization are not opposite concepts. Instead, they can coexist, for example in the form of diversified specializations. In this study, this body of literature was extended by formulating an indicator to measure the extent of multiple specializations in regional economies and by examining the effect of multiple specializations on regional economic performance. Empirical analysis showed that specializing in multiple industrial pursuits helped regions to achieve both faster and more stable economic growth.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Hong, S.; Xiao, Y. The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Sustainability 2016, 8, 963. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090963
AMA Style
Hong S, Xiao Y. The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Sustainability. 2016; 8(9):963. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090963
Chicago/Turabian StyleHong, Saheum; Xiao, Yu. 2016. "The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas" Sustainability 8, no. 9: 963. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090963
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