
208 Current Trends in Bayesian Methodology with Applications
FIGURE 10.1
Observed Fertility Rate by quinquennial age group j (j = 1, . . . , 7, ages 15 to
49 years old).
The importance of the simultaneous consideration of age effects and spa-
tially autocorre lated heterogeneity is highlighted by the highly significant val-
ues of the Moran’s I measure of spatial autocorrelation [22] index for the
regional values of fertility rates in six of the seven age groups (except j = 7).
The spatial patterns of obs e rved fertility rates across the ter ritory of Portugal
for the different age gro ups (Figure 10.1) also shows the same evidence. At
the same time,