Measuring diversity: theory and social and economic applications

Abstract

Purpose: the article is devoted to comparative analysis of approaches to the measurement of diversity. Discussion: the author considers theoretical approaches to the quantitative description of the various aspects of diversity, which is defined as the set of factors of heterogeneity and properties of subjects of actions, shared by one or more grounds, including geographic, climatic, economic and others factors, ethnicity, language, culture, etc. A detailed list of diversity indices is considered, and the properties of the major diversity indices are discussed, taking into account the specifics of their application for biological, economic and social systems. An emphasis is laid on the measurement of various forms of ethno-linguistic diversity and assessment of its impact on the socio-economic development. Result: formation of generalized quantification of various diversity indices, as well as evaluation of ethno-linguistic diversity of the USSR in the period 1970-1990.