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3 months ago in Geography , Health Operations By Aniketh

How do i model the effect of neighboring countries on malaysia’s healthcare?

Malaysia shares borders with Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei. Patients cross, policies diffuse, diseases don't stop at checkpoints. How do I capture these spatial effects quantitatively?

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By Nirav Answered 1 month ago

You need spatial econometric models. In Stata or R, use Spatial Lag (SAR) or Spatial Error (SEM) models to quantify neighbor effects like cross-border care-seeking or policy diffusion. EViews has limited spatial tools. For serious spatial analysis, GeoDa is the go-to it's free, visual, and built for this. The key is constructing a proper spatial weights matrix that reflects actual cross-border flows, not just adjacency. Space matters. Model it.

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