This article seeks to verify the extent to which the formulation of two-dimensional location quotients (2D-LQ) entails a methodological advance in building or generating economic accounts related to sub-territories drawing from basic information. The input–output tables of the Euro Area 19 for 2010 and 2015 are references for analysis. We have used five statistics to measure similarity between true domestic coefficient matrices for ten countries (Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain) and the matrices they generate using nonsurvey techniques (CILQ, FLQ, AFLQ, and 2D-LQ). The focus substantially centers on ranking methodological efficiency by comparing the results of the four techniques mentioned above. The scope of the work employs standard parameters (associated with 2D-LQ) as guidance to ascertain the optimum parameters.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stated by the United Nations (UN) constitute a universal agenda committed to human rights. In this context, mathematics can perform a fundamental role. Exploring possible contributions to these goals could be considered an interesting approach. Input–output (IO) tables provide detailed information for socio-economic quantifications. Thus, they allow for more precise policy decision-making and application in the SDG strategy. However, the smaller the subnational unit to be considered, the less statistical information that is available. Survey-based IO tables with large product/industry disaggregation are seldom published. Therefore, non-survey methods to estimate subnational IO tables based on the national are needed. These methodologies should yield optimal results. In the present investigation, different formulations for these non-survey regionalization methods are analyzed. The work focuses on the methodologies based on location quotients (LQ). As a result, some error patterns associated with current formulations present in literature are described. A slight refinement of these methodologies is proposed in order to improve the estimation’s accuracy.

Economic accounts at sub-territorial level are projected primarily through Location Quotients (LQ). The degrees of sectoral specialisation at this level will therefore be key in spatial projections. This article advocates rectified use of the Cross-Industry Location Quotient (CILQ). Indirectly, the aim is to check to what extent CILQs are well exploited, given that they are the fundamental reference in other techniques. The input-output (IO) tables for the Euro 19 Area for 2010 and 2015 are taken as a reference for analysis purposes. A statistic is used to measure the degree of similarity between the accounting frameworks of ten countries in the Euro Area and their projections using CILQ, Flegg's formula, its augmented version, and the CILQ variant.