Semiparametric Spatial Autoregressive Geoadditive Models

Abstract

Modeling regional economic dynamics requires the adoption of complex econometric tools, which allow us to deal with some important methodological issues, such as spatial dependence, spatial heterogeneity and nonlinearities. Recent developments in the spatial econometrics literature have provided some instruments (such as Spatial Autoregressive Semiparametric Geoadditive Models), which address these issues simultaneously and, therefore, are of great use for practitioners. In this paper we describe these methodological contributions and present some applications of these methodologies in the fields of regional science and economic geography.