Spatial econometrics is the field where spatial analysis and econometrics intersect. In general, econometrics differs from other branches of statistics in focusing on theoretical models, whose parameters are estimated using regression analysis. Spatial econometrics is a refinement of this, where either the theoretical model involves interactions between different entities, or the data observations are not truly independent. Thus, models incorporating spatial auto-correlation or neighborhood effects can be estimated using spatial econometric methods. Such models are common in regional science, real estate economics, and education economics.
History
The first general text in the field was the 1979 book by Paelinck and Klaasen.
References
Spatial econometrics Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA