This paper presents a novel framework to estimate the elasticity between nighttime lights and quarterly economic activity. The relationship is identified by accounting for varying degrees of measurement errors in nighttime light data across countries. The estimated elasticity is 1.55 for...

This paper presents a novel framework to estimate the elasticity between nighttime lights and quarterly economic activity, and provides the first set of estimates for the recent VIIRS nighttime light data. The relationship is identified by accounting for varying degrees of measurement errors in...

Unemployment rates in countries across the world are typically positively correlated with GDP. China is an unusual outlier from the pattern, with abnormally low, and suspiciously stable, unemployment rates according to its official statistics. This paper calculates, for the first time, China's...