Optimization algorithms must be among the most common numerical methods used by economists. Yet, there is surprisingly little guidance on choosing the appropriate one. This problem is most notable with regard to conventional versus global optimizers. Typically, a global optimizer is used when a...

The study of regional income convergence continues to attract enormous attention. Recent emphasis has been placed on the underlying spatial dimensions of regional growth processes both from theoretical and empirical perspectives, as well as from exploratory and confirmatory methodological...

This paper analyzes the evolution of labor productivity disparities among 145 European regions over 1975-2000 according to the concepts of ƒã- and ƒÒ-convergence and emphasizes the importance of including spatial effects and a disaggregated analysis at a sectoral level. We detect a...

This paper estimates the impact of structural funds on the convergence process between 145 European regions over 1989-1999. Since the majority of these funds finance transportation infrastructures, they induce spillover effects, industry relocation and do not necessarily succeed in reducing...

This paper brings together a number of new specification search strategies in spatial econometric modeling. In the literature, experimental results for several forward stepwise strategies aimed at remedying spatial dependence, have been reported. Essentially, these strategies boil down to the...

In a former study (Carvalho 1995) we modeled the housing market in Portugal in a classic cross section framework and did find that housing construction was dependant from income, population and sensitive to location. Nevertheless we couldn<92>t find the extent of this sensitivity in such a...</92>