Measuring Districts' Monthly Economic Activity from Outer Space

Beyer, Robert C. M. ; Chhabra, Esha ; Galdo, Virgilio ; Rama, Martin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: NIGHTLIGHT MEASUREMENT;    SPATIAL ANALYSIS;    VISIBLE INFRARED IMAGING RADIOMETER SUITE;    INFRARED IMAGING;    REMOTE SENSING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8523
RP-ID  :  WPS8523

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Evening-hour luminosity observed usingsatellites is a good proxy for economic activity. Thestrengths of measuring economic activity using nightlightmeasurements include that the data capture informalactivity, are available in near real-time, are cheap toobtain, and can be used to conduct very spatially granularanalysis. This paper presents a measure of monthly economicactivity at the district level based on cleaned VisibleInfrared Imaging Radiometer Suite nightlight and ruralpopulation. The paper demonstrates that this new method canshed light on recent episodes in South Asia: first, the 2015earthquake in Nepal; second, demonetization in India; and,third, violent conflict outbreaks in Afghanistan.