Bright Lights, Big Cities : Measuring National and Subnational Economic Growth in Africa from Outer Space, with an Application to Kenya and Rwanda
This paper uses the night lights (satellite imagery from outer space) approach to estimate growth in and levels of subnational 2013 gross domestic product for 47 counties in Kenya and 30 districts in Rwanda. Estimating subnational gross domestic pr...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/10/25221167/bright-lights-big-cities-measuring-national-subnational-economic-growth-africa-outer-space-application-kenya-rwanda http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22883 |
| Summary: | This paper uses the night lights
(satellite imagery from outer space) approach to estimate
growth in and levels of subnational 2013 gross domestic
product for 47 counties in Kenya and 30 districts in Rwanda.
Estimating subnational gross domestic product is
consequential for three reasons. First, there is strong
policy interest in how growth can occur in different parts
of countries, so that communities can share in national
prosperity and not get left behind. Second, subnational
entities want to understand how they stack up against their
neighbors and competitors, and how much they contribute to
national gross domestic product. Third, such information
could help private investors to assess where to undertake
investments. Using night lights has the advantage of seeing
a new and more accurate estimation of informal activity, and
being independent of official data. However, the approach
may underestimate economic activity in sectors that are
largely unlit notably agriculture. For Kenya, the results of
the analysis affirm that Nairobi County is the largest
contributor to national gross domestic product. However, at
13 percent, this contribution is lower than commonly
thought. For Rwanda, the three districts of Kigali account
for 40 percent of national gross domestic product,
underscoring the lower scale of economic activity in the
rest of the country. To get a composite picture of
subnational economic activity, especially in the context of
rapidly improving official statistics in Kenya and Rwanda,
it is important to estimate subnational gross domestic
product using standard approaches (production, expenditure, income). |
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