Measuring economic growth from outer space

Arbeitspapier

GDP growth is often measured poorly for countries and rarely measured at all for cities. We propose a readily available proxy: satellite data on lights at night. Our statistical framework uses light growth to supplement existing income growth measures. The framework is applied to countries with the lowest quality income data, resulting in estimates of growth that differ substantially from established estimates. We then consider a longstanding debate: do increases in local agricultural productivity increase city incomes? For African cities, we find that exogenous agricultural productivity shocks (high rainfall years) have substantial effects on local urban economic activity.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2009-8

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts ; Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence ; Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
• Subject: economic growth ; remote sensing ; urbanization ; income measurement

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Henderson, Vernon ; Storeygard, Adam ; Weil, David N.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Brown University, Department of Economics
• (where): Providence, RI
• (when): 2009

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/62621
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET