Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space: Evidence from Africa

Mveyange, Anthony Francis

doi:10.1596/1813-9450-8484

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Note, however, that we conduct only OLS regressions in this part of the analysis; therefore, our results only document statistical correlations, not necessarily causal relationships. Hence, 1 An interesting study on African regions provides Mveyange (2015) who uses the dispersion of grided nighttime lights as a proxy for the dispersion of grid income at the district level.…”

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confidence: 99%

Regional inequality, convergence, and its determinants – A view from outer space

Leßmann

Seidel

2017

European Economic Review

174

162

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This paper provides a new data set of regional income inequalities within countries based on satellite nighttime light data. We first empirically study the relationship between luminosity data and regional incomes for those countries where regional income data are available. We subsequently use our estimation results for an out-ofsample prediction of regional incomes based on the luminosity data, which allows us to investigate regional income differentials in developing countries as well, where official income data are lacking. Based on the predicted incomes, we calculate commonly used measures of regional inequality within countries. Investigating changes in the dispersion of regional incomes over time reveals that approximately 71-80% of all countries face sigma-convergence. Finally, we study different major determinants of the level of regional inequality based on cross-section data. Panel regressions investigate the within-country changes in inequality, i.e., the determinants of the convergence process. We find evidence for an N-shaped relationship between development and regional inequality. Geography, mobility and trade openness are also highly important. Terms of use: Documents inJEL-Code: D300, E010, E230, O110, O150, O570, R100.

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confidence: 99%

Regional inequality, convergence, and its determinants – A view from outer space

Leßmann

Seidel

2017

European Economic Review

174

162

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“…Mirza et al (2021), using a global sample of 57 countries, examine the relationship between light‐based inequality indicators and official estimates of inequality and confirm a robust positive relationship. Mveyange (2018), focusing on a sample of 48 African economies, finds a similar result that NTLs are a decent proxy for spatial income inequality. Other notable studies that use NTL data to examine spatial inequality and convergence include Lessmann and Seidel (2017) using a large sample of 180 countries, Mendez and Santos‐Marquez (2020) covering the nine countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Alesina, Michalopoulos, and Papaioannou (2016) focusing on the role of ethnic inequality in 173 countries, Adhikari and Dhital (2021) studying 63 developed and developing countries, and Lee (2018) looking at subnational regions in North Korea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Spatial Income Inequality, Convergence, and Regional Development in a Lower Middle‐Income Country: Satellite Evidence from the Philippines

Pagaduan

2023

The Developing Economies

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This paper examines spatial income inequality and convergence in the Philippines—a lower middle‐income country with historically high inequality—and its course over the process of economic development. Combining higher quality nighttime lights (NTLs) with gridded population data, I construct subnational measures of spatial inequality for the 17 administrative regions in the country in the period 2000–2020. Using this unique dataset, I first document the tremendous improvement in income disparities over the last two decades. Income per capita across provinces has converged rapidly, and income dispersion within administrative regions has narrowed markedly. Then, I uncover a U‐shaped relationship between spatial inequality and economic development, which is robust; across alternative measures of inequality; to the outlier effects of highly urbanized cities; across parametric and semiparametric specifications; to business‐cycle effects; and to persistence of spatial inequality. Finally, I confirm that structural transformation acts as a transmission channel of this U‐shaped link.

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“…There is a growing literature that uses luminosity intensity as a direct proxy for national and regional income (Alesina et al, 2016; Henderson et al, 2012; Mveyange, 2018). However, compared to the national level, luminosity alone has less explanatory power at the regional level (Chen & Nordhaus, 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Satellite nighttime light data are increasingly used for evaluating the performance of economies in which official statics are non‐existent, limited, or non‐comparable (Chen & Nordhaus, 2011; Henderson, Storeygard, & Weil, 2012; Lessmann & Seidel, 2017; Mveyange, 2018; Nordhaus & Chen, 2015). Across countries, Henderson et al (2012) show a strong and largely significant relationship between changes in nighttime light intensities and economic growth.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Regional convergence and spatial dependence across subnational regions of ASEAN: Evidence from satellite nighttime light data

Méndez

Santos‐Marquez

2021

Regional Science Policy & Practice

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Satellite nighttime light data are increasingly used for evaluating the performance of economies in which official statics are non-existent, limited, or non-comparable. In this paper, we use a novel luminosity-based measure of GDP per capita to study regional convergence and spatial dependence across 274 subnational regions of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the 1998-2012 period. Specifically, we first evaluate the usefulness of this new luminosity indicator in the context of ASEAN regions. Results show that almost 60 percent of the differences in (official) GDP per capita can be predicted by this luminosity-based measure of GDP. Next, given its potential usefulness for predicting regional GDP, we evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of regional inequality across ASEAN. Results indicate that although there is an overall (average) process of regional convergence, regional inequality within most countries has not significantly decreased. When evaluating the patterns of spatial dependence, we find increasing spatial dependence over time and stable spatial clusters (hotspots and coldspots) that are located across multiple national boundaries. Taken together, these results provide a new and more disaggregated perspective of the integration process of the ASEAN community. Keywords convergence • spatial dependence • satellite nighttime light data • luminosity • subnational regions • ASEAN JEL Classifications R10 • R11 • O57

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Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space: Evidence from Africa

Cited by 8 publications

References 40 publications

Regional inequality, convergence, and its determinants – A view from outer space

Regional inequality, convergence, and its determinants – A view from outer space

Spatial Income Inequality, Convergence, and Regional Development in a Lower Middle‐Income Country: Satellite Evidence from the Philippines

Regional convergence and spatial dependence across subnational regions of ASEAN: Evidence from satellite nighttime light data

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