A1871
Title: A spatial non-compensatory composite indicator for socio-economic disparities
Authors: Lucia Simmini - University of Salento (Italy) [presenting]
Sandra De Iaco - University of Salento (Italy)
Rebecca Distratis - University of Salento (Italy)
Claudia Cappello - University of Salento (Italy)
Abstract: Measuring socio-economic disparities across territories requires composite indicators capable of synthesising multiple heterogeneous dimensions. An integrated framework is proposed for constructing a spatial non-compensatory composite indicator, the socio-economic gap indicator (SEGI), that addresses three limitations commonly found in the literature: redundancy among correlated indicators, the treatment of spatial dependence as an ex-post diagnostic step, and the use of compensatory aggregation. The framework combines spatial blind source separation, which extracts independent latent components each capturing a distinct spatial structure, with the ELECTRE score, a non-compensatory outranking procedure preventing strong performance in one dimension from masking weaknesses in others. Spatial context is embedded into the score formula via indicator kriging, which estimates a location-specific parameter reflecting the socio-economic conditions of neighbouring provinces. The methodology is applied to 107 Italian provinces using indicators of education, labour market conditions, income, and health. The resulting indicator highlights spatial patterns consistent with the north-south divide and shows stronger spatial autocorrelation than a benchmark model, offering a more robust and spatially grounded measure of territorial disparities.
