IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0315.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Night-Time Light Data: A Good Proxy Measure for Economic Activity?

Author

Listed:
  • Mellander, Charlotta

    (Jönköping International Business School)

  • Stolarick, Kevin

    (University of Toronto)

  • Matheson, Zara

    (University of Toronto)

  • Lobo, José

    (Arizona State University)

Abstract

Research has suggested that night-time light (NTL) can be used as a proxy for a number of variables, including urbanization, density, and economic growth. But, just how close is the relationship between NTL and economic activity? This paper uses a combination of correlation analysis and geographically weighted regressions in order to examine the relationship between the two. We use fine-grained geo-coded micro-data for Swedish establishments and individuals, and match it with both radiance and saturated light emissions. We find that the correlation between NTL and economic activity is strong enough to make it a relatively good proxy for population and establishment density, but the correlation is weaker in relation to wages. In general, we find a stronger relation between light and density values, than with light and total values. We also find a closer connection between radiance light and economic activity, than with saturated light. Further, we find the link between light and economic activity, especially estimated by wages, to be slightly overestimated in large urban areas, and underestimated in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Mellander, Charlotta & Stolarick, Kevin & Matheson, Zara & Lobo, José, 2013. "Night-Time Light Data: A Good Proxy Measure for Economic Activity?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 315, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0315
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://static.sys.kth.se/itm/wp/cesis/cesiswp315.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yee Leung & Chang-Lin Mei & Wen-Xiu Zhang, 2000. "Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation among the Residuals of the Geographically Weighted Regression," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(5), pages 871-890, May.
    2. Vernon Henderson & Adam Storeygard & David N. Weil, 2011. "A Bright Idea for Measuring Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 194-199, May.
    3. Richard Florida & Tim Gulden & Charlotta Mellander, 2008. "The rise of the mega-region," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(3), pages 459-476.
    4. Florida, Richard & Mellander, Charlotta & Gulden, Tim, 2010. "Global Metropolis - assessing economic activity in global centers based on nighttime satellite images," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 218, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    5. Karen C Seto & Michail Fragkias & Burak Güneralp & Michael K Reilly, 2011. "A Meta-Analysis of Global Urban Land Expansion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-9, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pushkar Maitra & William Yu, 2021. "The Long Shadow of Infrastructure Development: Long Run Effects of Railway Construction in Colonial India," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-01, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Palmberg, Johanna, 2013. "Spontaneous Orders and the Emergence of Economically Powerful Cities," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 310, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    3. Seiffert, Sebastian, 2015. "The Role of Economic Geography in Subnational African Development," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113186, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Çağatay Bircan & Ralph De Haas, 2020. "The Limits of Lending? Banks and Technology Adoption across Russia," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 536-609.
    5. Susca, T. & Zanghirella, F. & Colasuonno, L. & Del Fatto, V., 2022. "Effect of green wall installation on urban heat island and building energy use: A climate-informed systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    6. Marco Helbich & Wolfgang Brunauer & Eric Vaz & Peter Nijkamp, 2014. "Spatial Heterogeneity in Hedonic House Price Models: The Case of Austria," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(2), pages 390-411, February.
    7. Molina Millán, Teresa, 2015. "Regional Migration, Insurance and Economic Shocks: Evidence from Nicaragua," IZA Discussion Papers 9494, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Guriev, Sergei, 2022. "Exposure to transit migration: Public attitudes and entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    9. Ralph de Haas & Steven Poelhekke, 2016. "Mining Matters: Natural Resource Extraction and Local Business Constraints," CESifo Working Paper Series 6198, CESifo.
    10. Tähtinen, Tuuli, 2024. "When Facebook Is the Internet: The Role of Social Media in Ethnic Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    11. Wu, Ye & Tao, Yu & Yang, Guishan & Ou, Weixin & Pueppke, Steven & Sun, Xiao & Chen, Gongtai & Tao, Qin, 2019. "Impact of land use change on multiple ecosystem services in the rapidly urbanizing Kunshan City of China: Past trajectories and future projections," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 419-427.
    12. Thomas McGregor & Samuel Wills, 2016. "Surfing A Wave Of Economic Growth," OxCarre Working Papers 170, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    13. Ch, Rafael & Martin, Diego A. & Vargas, Juan F., 2021. "Measuring the size and growth of cities using nighttime light," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    14. Ke Huang & Martin Dallimer & Lindsay C. Stringer & Anlu Zhang & Ting Zhang, 2021. "Does Economic Agglomeration Lead to Efficient Rural to Urban Land Conversion? An Examination of China’s Metropolitan Area Development Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    15. Tao Lin & Yunjun Yu & Xuemei Bai & Ling Feng & Jin Wang, 2013. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting of Urban Residential Consumption: A Household Survey Based Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-12, February.
    16. Kukkonen, M.O. & Khamis, M. & Muhammad, M.J. & Käyhkö, N. & Luoto, M., 2022. "Modeling direct above-ground carbon loss due to urban expansion in Zanzibar City Region, Tanzania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Kukkonen, Markus O. & Muhammad, Muhammad J. & Käyhkö, Niina & Luoto, Miska, 2018. "Urban expansion in Zanzibar City, Tanzania: Analyzing quantity, spatial patterns and effects of alternative planning approaches," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 554-565.
    18. Michel Opelele Omeno & Ying Yu & Wenyi Fan & Tolerant Lubalega & Chen Chen & Claude Kachaka Sudi Kaiko, 2021. "Analysis of the Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change on Land-Surface Temperature in the Villages within the Luki Biosphere Reserve," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    19. Edward J. Oughton & Jatin Mathur, 2020. "Predicting cell phone adoption metrics using satellite imagery," Papers 2006.07311, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    20. Canen, Nathan & Ch, Rafael & Wantchekon, Leonard, 2023. "Political uncertainty and the forms of state capture," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Light-Emission; Economic Activity; Proxy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0315. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vardan Hovsepyan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cekthse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.