Nighttime Lights as a Proxy for Economic Performance of Regions

Studying and managing regional economic development in the current globalization era demands prompt, reliable, and comparable estimates for a region’s economic performance.

Night-time lights (NTL) emitted from residential areas, entertainment places, industrial facilities, etc., and captured by satellites have become an increasingly recognized proxy for on-ground human activities. Compared to traditional indicators supplied by statistical offices, NTLs may have several advantages. First, NTL data are available all over the world, providing researchers and official bodies with the opportunity to obtain estimates even for regions with extremely poor reporting practices. Second, in contrast to non-standardized traditional reporting procedures, the unified NTL data remove the problem of inter-regional comparability. Finally, NTL data are currently globally available on a daily basis, which makes it possible to obtain these estimates promptly.

In this book, we provide the reader with the contributions demonstrating the potential and efficiency of using NTL data as a proxy for the performance of regions.