Measuring and testing spatial mass concentration of micro-geographic data

The question of measuring and testing industrial spatial concentration based on microgeographic data with distance based methods has been addressed by Arbia (1996), Espa et al.(2010), Duranton-Overman (2005) and Marcon-Puech (2010). We discuss the basic requirements for such measures introduced by Duranton and Overman (2005) and we propose four additional requirements. We also discuss the null assumptions classically used for testing aggregation of a particular sector and propose an alternative point of view. The mathematical framework we use is based on some second order characteristics of marked spatial point processes discussed in Illian et al. (2008). The general index measure involves a cumulative and a noncumulative version. This allows us to propose an alternative version of the Duranton-Overman index with a proper baseline as well as a cumulative version of this same index.