On Measuring Segregation in a Multigroup Context: Standardized Versus Unstandardized Indices

Coral del Rio Otero and Olga Alonso-Villar

No 1904, Working Papers from Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada

Abstract: There has been little discussion in the literature about the consequences of using standardized (versus unstandardized) segregation measures when comparing societies with different demographic compositions. To measure the segregation of a group in a multigroup setting, this paper develops standardized local segregation indices, which show a maximum value of 1 when the group is fully segregated, and links these measures with existing standardized overall segregation measures. Our research not only allows for enhancement of the local segregation approach—offering new measures and evaluating them against basic properties—but also provides a better understanding of existing standardized overall measures. To illustrate its value, this paper offers estimates of the occupational segregation of white women in the largest U.S. metropolitan areas using standardized and unstandardized segregation measures. This permits us to identify metropolitan areas that would have gone unnoticed if only one of these two approaches had been employed.

Keywords: Multigroup segregation; Standardized segregation indices; Local segregation curves; Local segregation indices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 J15 J16 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2019-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma, nep-ltv and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: On Measuring Segregation in a Multigroup Context: Standardized Versus Unstandardized Indices (2022)
Working Paper: On Measuring Segregation in a Multigroup Context: Standardized Versus Unstandardized Indices (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vig:wpaper:1904

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