PANEL DATA MODELS FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

One of the goals of the national development policy is to support the sustainable economic and social growth of regions territorially balanced in Romania in order to reduce economic and social disparities among regions. This paper aims at identifying influential factors to the number of tourists and national road density, indicators that characterize tourism, namely transports - two of the regional development priorities. To this end, pooled linear regress ion models with spatial specific effects have been used for cross-sectional units. However, model equations quantify the intensity of highlighted links and assess the effects of influence factors upon the two indicators. The study shows that the nominal GDP is an important direct influence factor upon national road density and, the GDP per capita and the number of employees per 1,000 inhabitants are relevant factors which influence tourist activity, the former directly and the latter reversely.