Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach

Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

No 12574, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Over the last two decades, the literature on comparative development has moved from country-level to within-country analyses. The questions asked have expanded, as economists have used satellite images of light density at night and other big spatial data to proxy for development at the desired level. The focus has also shifted from uncovering correlations to identifying causal relations, using elaborate econometric techniques including spatial regression discontinuity designs. In this survey we show how the combination of geographic information systems with insights from disciplines ranging from the earth sciences to linguistics and history has transformed the research landscape on the roots of the spatial patterns of development. We discuss the limitations of the luminosity data and associated econometric techniques and conclude by offering some thoughts on future research.

JEL-codes: N00 N9 O10 O43 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big, nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (38)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP12574 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Journal Article: Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach (2018)
Working Paper: Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach (2017)
Working Paper: Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12574

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP12574

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().