Essays On Applications Of Spatial Econometric Models

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Essays on Theories and Applications of Spatial Econometric Models

Abstract: As an effective method in analyzing interdependence among the observations, the spatial autoregressive (SAR) models have witnessed ever-increasing applications. This dissertation intends to enrich both the spatial econometrics theory and the social interaction estimations. In the first essay, a SAR model with group unobservables is applied to analyze peer effects in student academic achievement. Unlike the linear-in-means model in Manski (1993), the SAR model can identify both endogenous and contextual social effects due to variations in the peer measurements, thus resolving the "reflection problem". The group fixed effects term captures the confounding effects of the common variables faced by the same group members. I use datasets from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) survey and specify peer groups as friendship networks. I find evidence for both endogenous and contextual effects, even after controlling for school-grade fixed effects. The result indicates that students benefit from the presence of high quality peers, and that associating with peers living with both parents helps improve a student's GPA, while associating with peers whose mothers receive welfare has a negative effect. The second essay considers the GMM estimation of SAR models with unknown heteroskedasticity. We show that MLE is inconsistent whereas GMM estimators obtained from certain moment conditions are robust. Asymptotically valid inferences can be drawn from the consistent covariance matrix estimator. And efficiency can be improved by constructing the optimal weighted GMM estimation. We also propose some general tests for heteroskedasticity. In the Monte Carlo study, 2SLS estimators have large variances and biases in finite samples for cases where regressors do not have strong effects. The robust GMM estimator has desirable properties while the biases associated with MLE and non-robust GMM estimator may remain in large sample, especially, for the spatial effect coefficient and the intercept term. However, the magnitudes of biases are only moderate and those biases may be statistically insignificant with moderate large sample sizes. The various approaches are applied to the study of county teenage pregnancy rates. The results suggest a strong spatial convergence among county teenage pregnancy rates with a significant spatial effect.
Essays on Applications of Spatial Econometric Models

It also empirically confirms and supports the theoretical work of previous studies in SAR modeling. Limited but considerable exogenous variables are discussed in this paper as well.
Essays in Honor of Joon Y. Park

Author: Yoosoon Chang
language: en
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Release Date: 2023-04-24
Volumes 45a and 45b of Advances in Econometrics honor Professor Joon Y. Park, who has made numerous and substantive contributions to the field of econometrics over a career spanning four decades since the 1980s and counting.