Regional and spatial econometric analysis

This chapter provides a brief and somewhat intuitive introduction to econometric analysis which focuses primarily on the selection process for deciding which statistical techniques are most appropriate in a given application. It presents some examples to illustrate these applications to real-world problems in a regional setting, and some discussion of the &s;art&s; of econometric model building. The chapter also provides an overview and &s;roadmap&s; of econometric methodologies and their applications at the regional level. It examines spatial econometrics, an increasingly important area of application of econometric methods for regional analysis. Econometric methods also can be used to broaden and enhance the usefulness of other regional science models including input-output, social accounting matrices, and applied general equilibrium models, among others. Regional analysts and other users of econometric methods need to know the strengths as well as the shortcomings of the methodologies they employ.