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100 _aFowlerm, Christopher S
_957672
245 _aBridging the gap between geographic concept and the data we have:
_bcase of labor markets in the USA/
260 _bSage,
_c2020.
300 _aVol. 52, Issue 7, 2020 ( 1395–1414 p.)
520 _aA broad literature has made it clear that geographic units must be selected with care or they are likely to introduce error and uncertainty into results. Nevertheless, researchers often use data “off the shelf” with the implicit assumptions that their observations are consistent with the geographical concept relevant for their research question, and that they are of uniformly high quality in capturing this geographic identity. In this paper, we consider the geographical concept of “labor market” and offer a template for both clarifying its meaning for research and testing the suitability of extant labor-market delineations. We establish a set of metrics for comparing the quality of existing labor-market delineations with respect to the diverse meanings that researchers apply to the concept. Using the fit metrics established here, researchers can explore how delineations vary geographically, how they vary over time, and how this variation may shape research outcomes. Our assessment is that the quality of the extant delineations is relatively high overall. However, we find that different delineations vary significantly in the types of labor markets they represent, and that regional variations in fit within any given delineation may introduce noise or regional bias that merits consideration in any analysis conducted with these units. More broadly, the kinds of metrics we propose here have applicability for many other geographic entities where boundaries and scale can be only imperfectly defined.
700 _aJensen, Leif
_957673
773 0 _08877
_917103
_dLondon Pion Ltd. 2010
_tEnvironment and planning A
_x1472-3409
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X20906154
942 _2ddc
_cEJR
999 _c14553
_d14553