Satellite nighttime light data are increasingly used for evaluating the performance of economies in which official statics are non-existent, limited, or non-comparable. In this paper, we use a novel luminosity-based measure of GDP per capita to study regional convergence and spatial dependence across 274 subnational regions of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the 1998-2012 period. Specifically, we first evaluate the usefulness of this new luminosity indicator in the context of ASEAN regions. Results show that almost 60 percent of the differences in (official) GDP per capita can be predicted by this luminosity-based measure of GDP. Next, given its potential usefulness for predicting regional GDP, we evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of regional inequality across ASEAN. Results indicate that although there is an overall (average) process of regional convergence, regional inequality within most countries has not significantly decreased. When evaluating the patterns of spatial dependence, we find increasing spatial dependence over time and stable spatial clusters (hotspots and coldspots) that are located across multiple national boundaries. Taken together, these results provide a new and more disaggregated perspective of the integration process of the ASEAN community. Keywords convergence • spatial dependence • satellite nighttime light data • luminosity • subnational regions • ASEAN JEL Classifications R10 • R11 • O57
This paper studies regional convergence and spatial dependence of homicides and personal injuries in Colombia. In particular, through the lens of both classical and distributional convergence frameworks, two spatial scales are contrasted: municipalities and states. For both homicides and personal injuries, sigma convergence is only found at the state level. In contrast, beta convergence is found at both state and municipal level. The distributional convergence framework highlights further contrasting patterns. For homicides at the state level, four convergence clusters are found, while two clusters are present at the municipal level. For personal injuries, at both spatial scales, two clusters are found. Moreover, significant and robust spatial autocorrelation is found only at the municipal level. Overall, these results re-emphasize the role of spatial disaggregation as well as spatial dependence when evaluating regional convergence and designing regional development policies. Lastly, a discussion of the previous results and their relation to current and future policies is also included.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.