Project CEMAPRE internal
| Title | Essays in Spatial Econometrics |
| Participants | Isabel Proença (Principal Investigator) |
| Summary | The present project aims to contribute to the spatial panel data literature, regarding the specification and estimation of a parametric model for discrete dependent variables. The treatment of the unobserved heterogeneity will be a central issue. In recent years, several authors discussed the importance of modelling cross-sectional dependence in spatial data, due to the interactions established between different units (regions, firms, ...) inside the same country or a well-defined area. Ignoring such dependence structure may lead misleading economic interpretation and biased estimates, especially when N is large relatively to T. With regard to the complexity of introducing these spatial interactions in the estimation, innovative methods and algorithms will be introduced. The asymptotic properties of the estimator will be derived and Monte Carlo simulations will be conducted. Finally, these methods will be applied to study the determinants of regional competitiveness in the Metropolitan Areas, accounting for unit-specific and spillover effects in terms of social, economic and technological growth over the neighboring areas. |