Estimação de Variáveis Económicas Sujeitas a Dependências Espaciais: O Caso dos Municípios de Portugal Continental

Abstract

This article intends to highlight the need of considering explicitly the spatial dimension in the empirical analyses in which interfere cut transversal cross facts spatially referenced. Firstly and for this purpose, it will be described in a summarised way the most prominent theoretical aspects of the techniques of spatial econometrics. Subsequently, and taking as a base the estimation problem of the Gross Domestic Product of Portugal counties, it will be presented an application in which results derived from the “classical” econometrics approaches are compared with those obtained from spatial econometrics. The results indicate that, in a similar way to time homologous, the contrast of spatial independence should convert itself into a common practice such that, in case of rejection of the hypothesis, one proceeds to the achievement of a handling adapted from the detected problem.