Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/242574 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Working Paper Series No. 2020/02
Publisher: 
Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Auckland
Abstract: 
We evaluate the usefulness of satellite-based data on night-time lights for forecasting GDP growth across a global sample of countries, proposing innovative location-based indicators to extract new predictive information from the lights data. Our findings are generally favorable to the use of night lights data to improve the accuracy of model-based forecasts. We also find a substantial degree of heterogeneity across countries in the relationship between lights and economic activity: individually-estimated models tend to outperform panel specifications. Key factors underlying the night lights performance include the country's size and income level, logistics infrastructure, and the quality of national statistics.
Subjects: 
night lights
remote sensing
big data
business cycles
leading indicators
JEL: 
C55
C82
E01
E37
R12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.