Measuring inequality using geospatial data

Arbeitspapier

The main challenge in studying economic inequality is limited data availability, which is particularly problematic in developing countries. We construct a measure of economic inequality for 234 countries/territories from 1992 to 2013 using satellite data on night lights and gridded population data. Key methodological innovations include the use of varying levels of data aggregation, and a calibration of the lights-prosperity relationship to match traditional inequality measures based on income data. We obtain a measure that is significantly correlated with cross-country variation in income inequality. We provide three applications of the data in the fields of health economics and international finance. Our results show that light- and income-based inequality measures lead to similar results in terms of cross-country correlations, but not for the dynamics of inequality within countries. Namely, we find that the light-based inequality measure can capture more enduring features of economic activity that are not directly captured by income.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: KOF Working Papers ; No. 493

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts ; Health and Inequality ; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence ; Comparative Studies of Countries
• Thema: Nighttime lights ; inequality ; gridded population

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Galimberti, Jaqueson K. ; Pichler, Stefan ; Pleninger, Regina
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
• (wo): Zurich
• (wann): 2021

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000473903
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/235107
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ