A New Shift-Share Method

• Published in: Growth and change Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 667 - 683
• Main Authors: Artige, Lionel, van Neuss, Leif
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lexington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2014; Univ. of Kentucky; Blackwell Publishing
• Subjects: Area planning & development; Belgian manufacturing employment; Business & economic sciences; Criticism; Dekompositionsverfahren; Domaines particuliers de l’économie (santé, travail, transport...); Economic growth; Economic structure; Employment; Manufacturing; Provinces; Regional economics; Regional studies; Research methodology; Sciences économiques & de gestion; Shift-share; Shift-Share-Analyse; Special economic topics (health, labor, transportation...); Wissenschaftliche Methode; Belgium
• ISSN: 0017-4815; 1468-2257; 1468-2257
• DOI: 10.1111/grow.12065

Shift‐share analysis is a decomposition technique widely used in regional studies to quantify an industry‐mix effect and a competitive effect on the growth of regional employment (or any other relevant variable) relative to the national average. This technique has always been subject to criticism for its lack of theoretical basis. This paper presents a critical assessment of the methods suggested by Dunn and Esteban‐Marquillas and proposes a new shift‐share method, which separates out the two effects unambiguously. By way of illustration, we provide an application to manufacturing employment in the Belgian provinces between 1995 and 2007.