In the present article we propose a spatial micro econometric approach for studying the geographical concentration of economic activities. We analyse the incentives to use this approach rather than the traditional one based on regional aggregates. As an example, we present our prototypical...

Abstract The regional economic convergence/divergence issue has been discussed extensively recently, but results obtained are not always interpretable unequivocally as a consequence of the different estimation strategies used. As it is widely recognized, the most common theoretical framework...

This paper examines stochastic convergence in real per capita GDP for Italian regions using recent non-stationary panel data methodologies over the period 1951 to 2002. Economies stochastically converge when regional differences across economies are not persistent, and long-run movements in a...

<title>Abstract</title> The Spatial Econometrics Association appeared on the scene only five years ago during a time of unprecedented expansion of research activities in the field. This paper tries to summarize the developments that occurred in this first lustrum of life of the Association. The review...

The spatial concentration of firms has long been a central issue in economics under both the theoretical and the applied point of view mainly due to the important policy implications. A popular approach to its measurement, which does not suffer from the problem of the arbitrariness of the...

Maximum likelihood estimation of spatial models based on weight matrices typically requires a sizeable computational capacity, even in rel- atively small samples. The unilateral approximation approach to spatial models estimation has been suggested in Besag (1974) as a viable alternat- ive to...

The study of the geographical distribution of firms and of the dynamic pattern of firm entry and firm exits is a particularly relevant issue in regional health economics especially in the view of policy intervention to geographically balance health service supply and demand. The current state of...

The main purpose of this Handbook is to provide overviews and assessments of the state-of-the-art regarding research methods, approaches and applications central to economic geography. The chapters are written by distinguished researchers from a variety of scholarly traditions and with a...