Spatial econometrics is the collection of econometric methods specifically geared at dealing with problems of spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity encountered in cross-sectional (and panel) data sets. The use of spatial econometric techniques is increasingly common in empirical work in economics, not only in regional and urban economics (including real estate analysis), but also in resource and environmental economics, public economics and international economics, among others. The main objective of the course is to provide an exposure to state of the art methods in applied econometrics that can be effectively incorporated into empirical research.

While the main focus of the course is on spatial aspects, the types of methods covered have general validity in econometric practice. The course includes topics such as the specification of dependent stochastic processes, maximum likelihood estimation of dependent processes, instrumental variables and general method of moments estimation, specification tests, and asymptotic and finite sample properties. Considerable attention is paid to the application of spatial econometric techniques in empirical practice, using state of the art software.

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Last updated January 6, 2006