This volume is in honour of the career of the father of spatial econometrics, Professor Jean Paelinck, presently of the Tinbergen Institute, Rotterdam. Jean Paelinck is arguably the founder of modern spatial econometrics. The impact on the profession through his work in spatial econometrics, regional science, and more conventional economics can be measured in many ways: through the work of his students; his devotion to and activism in facilitating the diffusion of regional science to Poland; the formulation and development of his FLEUR model; his co-founding of the French-speaking Regional Science Association; the voluminous references to his scholarly publications; his many invitations to be a featured speaker at conferences and universities throughout the world; the offices he has held in scholarly and professional associations, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Economic Institute; and the numerous honorary degrees he has been awarded. A series of special sessions in honour of Jean Paelinck were organized at the most prominent regional science meetings around the world.
A number of prominent scholars in the field organized and participated in special sessions labelled "In Honour of Professor Paelinck". These sessions reflect a global reach of the techniques and methods pioneered by him. As an outgrowth of six conferences, final versions of the selection of papers are collected in this volume. Prominent ideas contained in each of the selected contributions can be traced to work by Jean Paelinck.