Is spatial dependence an instantaneous effect? Some evidence in economic series of Spanish provinces.

The purpose of this article is to analyze if spatial dependence is a synchronic effect, as it has usually been defined. It is known that in many socio-economic phenomena spatial dependence can be not only contemporary but also time-lagged. In this paper, we use two Moran-based space-time autocorrelation statistics in order to evaluate the simultaneity of this spatial effect, allowing for mixed specifications with instantaneous and space-time dependence terms. Some applications with economic data for Spanish provinces shed some light upon these issues.