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

This paper argues for night--lights data as an alternative data source for measuring spatial inequalities in Africa, where the paucity of subnational income data is persistent. The analysis compares the statistical relationships between income and...

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Main Author:	Mveyange, Anthony
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	INCOME INEQUALITY GEOSPATIAL ECONOMICS WEATHER SUBNATIONAL INCOME DATA SPATIAL INCOME INEQUALITY LIGHTS-BASED MEASUREMENT CLIMATE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/522521529585253770/Measuring-and-explaining-patterns-of-Spatial-Income-Inequality-from-Outer-Space-Evidence-from-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29937

id	okr-10986-29937
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-299372021-09-16T22:02:14Z Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa Mveyange, Anthony INCOME INEQUALITY GEOSPATIAL ECONOMICS WEATHER SUBNATIONAL INCOME DATA SPATIAL INCOME INEQUALITY LIGHTS-BASED MEASUREMENT CLIMATE This paper argues for night--lights data as an alternative data source for measuring spatial inequalities in Africa, where the paucity of subnational income data is persistent. The analysis compares the statistical relationships between income and lights-based measures of spatial income inequality in South Africa and shows that night-lights are a decent proxy for spatial income inequality. Further analysis of the patterns of lights-based spatial income inequality across 48 countries in Africa broadly reveals rising patterns between 1992 and 2013. Following the climate-economy literature, the analysis also reveals that temperature and precipitation changes significantly increased spatial inequality in the long-run and the effects penetrated through income and agriculture channels across countries in the continent. These findings provide important lessons for policy discussions about how to measure, explain the patterns of, and mitigate the potential drivers of spatial inequality in Africa. 2018-06-28T14:27:38Z 2018-06-28T14:27:38Z 2018-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/522521529585253770/Measuring-and-explaining-patterns-of-Spatial-Income-Inequality-from-Outer-Space-Evidence-from-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29937 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8484 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Sub-Saharan Africa South Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	INCOME INEQUALITY GEOSPATIAL ECONOMICS WEATHER SUBNATIONAL INCOME DATA SPATIAL INCOME INEQUALITY LIGHTS-BASED MEASUREMENT CLIMATE
spellingShingle	INCOME INEQUALITY GEOSPATIAL ECONOMICS WEATHER SUBNATIONAL INCOME DATA SPATIAL INCOME INEQUALITY LIGHTS-BASED MEASUREMENT CLIMATE Mveyange, Anthony Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
geographic_facet	Africa Sub-Saharan Africa South Africa
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8484
description	This paper argues for night--lights data as an alternative data source for measuring spatial inequalities in Africa, where the paucity of subnational income data is persistent. The analysis compares the statistical relationships between income and lights-based measures of spatial income inequality in South Africa and shows that night-lights are a decent proxy for spatial income inequality. Further analysis of the patterns of lights-based spatial income inequality across 48 countries in Africa broadly reveals rising patterns between 1992 and 2013. Following the climate-economy literature, the analysis also reveals that temperature and precipitation changes significantly increased spatial inequality in the long-run and the effects penetrated through income and agriculture channels across countries in the continent. These findings provide important lessons for policy discussions about how to measure, explain the patterns of, and mitigate the potential drivers of spatial inequality in Africa.
format	Working Paper
author	Mveyange, Anthony
author_facet	Mveyange, Anthony
author_sort	Mveyange, Anthony
title	Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
title_short	Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
title_full	Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
title_fullStr	Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Measuring and Explaining Patterns of Spatial Income Inequality from Outer Space : Evidence from Africa
title_sort	measuring and explaining patterns of spatial income inequality from outer space : evidence from africa
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/522521529585253770/Measuring-and-explaining-patterns-of-Spatial-Income-Inequality-from-Outer-Space-Evidence-from-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29937
_version_	1764470851999105024

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

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