Replication data for: Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) J. Vernon Henderson; Adam Storeygard; David N. Weil

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
20090830_data			09/14/2021 01:56:PM
LICENSE.txt	text/plain	14.6 KB	10/11/2019 01:24:PM

Project Citation:

Henderson, J. Vernon, Storeygard, Adam, and Weil, David N. Replication data for: Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2012. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E112518V1

Project Description

Summary: We develop a statistical framework to use satellite data on night lights to augment official income growth measures. For countries with poor national income accounts, the optimal estimate of growth is a composite with roughly equal weights on conventionally measured growth and growth predicted from lights. Our estimates differ from official data by up to three percentage points annually. Using lights, empirical analyses of growth need no longer use countries as the unit of analysis; we can measure growth for sub- and supranational regions. We show, for example, that coastal areas in sub-Saharan Africa are growing slower than the hinterland. (JEL E01, E23, O11, 047, 057)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: proxy; GDP; Satellites; remote sensing

JEL Classification:
      E01 Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
      E23 Macroeconomics: Production
      O11 Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
      O47 Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
      O57 Comparative Studies of Countries

Geographic Coverage: Global

Time Period(s): 1992 – 2008 (1992-2008, annual)

Data Type(s): geographic information system (GIS) data; aggregate data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: countries, 30-arc-second pixels (approximately 1 km^2 at the equator, decreasing with the cosine of latitude)

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-11]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. As of April 2026, depositors are required to submit study materials in accessible formats. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.