Replication data for: Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) J. Vernon Henderson; Adam Storeygard; David N. Weil

Version:  View help for Version V1

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  20090830_data 09/14/2021 01:56:PM
LICENSE.txt text/plain 14.6 KB 10/11/2019 01:24:PM

Project Citation: 

Henderson, J. Vernon, Storeygard, Adam, and Weil, David N. Replication data for: Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2012. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E112518V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We develop a statistical framework to use satellite data on night lights to augment official income growth measures. For countries with poor national income accounts, the optimal estimate of growth is a composite with roughly equal weights on conventionally measured growth and growth predicted from lights. Our estimates differ from official data by up to three percentage points annually. Using lights, empirical analyses of growth need no longer use countries as the unit of analysis; we can measure growth for sub- and supranational regions. We show, for example, that coastal areas in sub-Saharan Africa are growing slower than the hinterland. (JEL E01, E23, O11, 047, 057)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms proxy; GDP; Satellites; remote sensing
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      E01 Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
      E23 Macroeconomics: Production
      O11 Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
      O47 Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
      O57 Comparative Studies of Countries
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Global
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1992 – 2008 (1992-2008, annual)
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data; aggregate data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation countries, 30-arc-second pixels (approximately 1 km^2 at the equator, decreasing with the cosine of latitude)

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-11]

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