LeSage, James P.Pace, R. Kelley2021-07-012021-07-012014-12LeSage, J. P., & Pace, R. K. (2014). The biggest myth in spatial econometrics. Econometrics, 2(4), pp. 217-249.2225-1146https://hdl.handle.net/10877/13799There is near universal agreement that estimates and inferences from spatial regression models are sensitive to particular specifications used for the spatial weight structure in these models. We find little theoretical basis for this commonly held belief, if estimates and inferences are based on the true partial derivatives for a well-specified spatial regression model. We conclude that this myth may have arisen from past applied work that incorrectly interpreted the model coefficients as if they were partial derivatives, or from use of misspecified models.Text33 pages1 file (.pdf)enindirect effectsspatial regression estimatessensitivity to spatial weightsArticle© 2014 The Authors.https://doi.org/10.3390/econometrics2040217This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.