Estimation Strategies for a Spatial Dynamic Panel using GMM. A New Approach to the Convergence Issue of European Regions

While estimation methods for dynamic panel data and spatial econometric models are standard in economic literature, there has been a relatively recent development in methods which include spatial considerations in dynamic panel data models. This paper proposes two estimation strategies for spatial dynamic panel data models using the generalized method of moments (GMM). The first is to extend the moment restrictions of Arellano and Bond's estimator to a spatial autoregressive dynamic panel. The second allows for spatial dependence in the error process. The empirical application focuses on European regional growth over a 25-year period. We find empirical evidence of conditional convergence, which is significantly affected by spatial disparities.