IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osp/wpaper/19e002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Observing Economic Growth in Unrecognized States with Nighttime Light

Author

Listed:
  • Masayuki Kudamatsu

    (Associate Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University)

Abstract

This paper uses the satellite images of nighttime light to estimate economic growth rates in four unrecognized states of the former Soviet Union: Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Transnistria in Moldova. We then compare these estimates against those similarly obtained for the parent states to gauge the impact of non-recognition as sovereign states on economic activities. The estimated economic growth rates do not differ much between the breakaway territories and their parent states, suggesting that the economic impact of non-recognition as states may be fairly limited.

Suggested Citation

  • Masayuki Kudamatsu, 2019. "Observing Economic Growth in Unrecognized States with Nighttime Light," OSIPP Discussion Paper 19E002, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    • Handle: RePEc:osp:wpaper:19e002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/archives/DP/2019/DP2019E002.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fuchs, Andreas & Dreher, Axel & Hodler, Roland & Parks, Bradley C. & Raschky, Paul, 2015. "Aid on Demand: African Leaders and the Geography of China s Foreign Assistance," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112838, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Berger, Melissa & Fellner-Röhling, Gerlinde & Sausgruber, Rupert & Traxler, Christian, 2016. "Higher taxes, more evasion? Evidence from border differentials in TV license fees," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 74-86.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Camilo García-Jimeno & James A. Robinson, 2015. "State Capacity and Economic Development: A Network Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2364-2409, August.
    4. Adam Storeygard, 2016. "Farther on down the Road: Transport Costs, Trade and Urban Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(3), pages 1263-1295.
    5. Miguel, Edward & Roland, Gérard, 2011. "The long-run impact of bombing Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Maxim Pinkovskiy & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2016. "Newer Need Not be Better: Evaluating the Penn World Tables and the World Development Indicators Using Nighttime Lights," NBER Working Papers 22216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ran Goldblatt & Kilian Heilmann & Yonatan Vaizman, 0. "Can Medium-Resolution Satellite Imagery Measure Economic Activity at Small Geographies? Evidence from Landsat in Vietnam," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(3), pages 635-653.
    8. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2011. "Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9624.
    9. Frank Bickenbach & Eckhardt Bode & Peter Nunnenkamp & Mareike Söder, 2016. "Night lights and regional GDP," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(2), pages 425-447, May.
    10. Katherine Casey & Rachel Glennerster & Edward Miguel, 2012. "Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on Aid Impacts Using a Preanalysis Plan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(4), pages 1755-1812.
    11. Charlotta Mellander & José Lobo & Kevin Stolarick & Zara Matheson, 2015. "Night-Time Light Data: A Good Proxy Measure for Economic Activity?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    12. Donald R. Davis & David E. Weinstein, 2002. "Bones, Bombs, and Break Points: The Geography of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1269-1289, December.
    13. Lee, Yong Suk, 2018. "International isolation and regional inequality: Evidence from sanctions on North Korea," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 34-51.
    14. Robin Burgess & Francisco J.M. Costa & Benjamin A. Olken, 2018. "Wilderness Conservation and the Reach of the State: Evidence from National Borders in the Amazon," NBER Working Papers 24861, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Hannes Mueller, 2012. "Growth Dynamics: The Myth of Economic Recovery: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3774-3777, December.
    16. Pål Kolstø, 2006. "The Sustainability and Future of Unrecognized Quasi-States," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 43(6), pages 723-740, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarah J. Carrington & Pablo Jiménez‐Ayora, 2021. "Shedding light on the convergence debate: Using luminosity data to investigate economic convergence in Ecuador," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 200-227, February.

    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. John Gibson & Susan Olivia & Geua Boe‐Gibson, 2020. "Night Lights In Economics: Sources And Uses," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5), pages 955-980, December.
    2. repec:lic:licosd:41920 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Adriana Kocornik-Mina & Thomas K. J. McDermott & Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch, 2020. "Flooded Cities," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 35-66, April.
    4. Gibson, John & Olivia, Susan & Boe-Gibson, Geua & Li, Chao, 2021. "Which night lights data should we use in economics, and where?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Melissa Dell & Nathan Lane & Pablo Querubin, 2018. "The Historical State, Local Collective Action, and Economic Development in Vietnam," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 2083-2121, November.
    6. Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig, 2021. "The Elusive Peace Dividend of Development Policy: From War Traps to Macro Complementarities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 111-131, August.
    7. Miguel Fajardo-Steinhauser, 2023. "Peace Dividends: The Economic Effects of Colombia's Peace Agreement," Papers 2301.01843, arXiv.org.
    8. Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2018. "Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 383-410, August.
    9. Nguyen, Cuong & Noy, Ilan, 2018. "Measuring the impact of insurance on urban recovery with light: The 2011 New Zealand earthquake," Working Paper Series 6955, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    10. Emran,M. Shahe & Shilpi,Forhad J. & Coulombe,Harold & Blankespoor,Brian, 2019. "Temporary Trade Shocks, Spatial Reallocation, and Persistence in Developing Countries : Evidence from a Natural Experiment in West Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8962, The World Bank.
    11. Patrick Lehnert & Michael Niederberger & Uschi Backes-Gellner & Eric Bettinger, 2020. "Proxying Economic Activity with Daytime Satellite Imagery: Filling Data Gaps Across Time and Space," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0165, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW), revised Sep 2022.
    12. Nguyen, Cuong & Noy, Ilan, 2018. "Measuring the impact of insurance on urban recovery with light: The 2011 New Zealand earthquake," Working Paper Series 20316, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    13. Seidel, Tobias & von Ehrlich, Maximilian, 2014. "The persistent effects of regional policy - Evidence from the West-German Zonenrandgebiet," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100515, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Seiffert, Sebastian, 2019. "Go east: On the impact of the Transiberian Railway on economic development in Eastern Russia," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 02-2019, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    15. Dave Donaldson & Adam Storeygard, 2016. "The View from Above: Applications of Satellite Data in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 171-198, Fall.
    16. Mueller,Hannes Felix & Techasunthornwat,Chanon, 2020. "Conflict and Poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9455, The World Bank.
    17. Andreas Eberhard-Ruiz & Alexander Moradi, 2018. "Regional Market Integration and City Growth in East Africa: Local but no Regional Effects?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2018-09, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    18. Cuong Nguyen & Ilan Noy, 2018. "Measuring the Impact of Insurance on Urban Recovery with Light: The 2010-2011 New Zealand Earthquakes," CESifo Working Paper Series 7031, CESifo.
    19. Akresh, Richard & Lucchetti, Leonardo & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2012. "Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 330-340.
    20. Rafael Gonzalez-Val & David Cuberes, 2013. "History and Urban Primacy: The Effect of the Spanish Reconquista on Muslim Cities," ERSA conference papers ersa13p60, European Regional Science Association.
    21. Stephen J. Redding, 2010. "The Empirics Of New Economic Geography," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 297-311, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unrecognized states; the former Soviet Union; satellite data; civil conflicts; economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

    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:osp:wpaper:19e002. 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: Akiko Murashita (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iposujp.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.