Profile quasi-maximum likelihood estimation of partially linear spatial autoregressive models

We propose profile quasi-maximum likelihood estimation of spatial autoregressive models that are partially linear. The rate of convergence of the spatial parameter estimator depends on some general features of the spatial weight matrix of the model. The estimators of other finite-dimensional parameters in the model have the regular root n-rate of convergence and the estimator of the nonparametric component is consistent but with different restrictions on the choice of bandwidth parameter associated with different natures of the spatial weights. Monte Carlo simulations verify our theory and indicate that our estimators perform reasonably well in finite samples. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.