气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Global inequality remotely sensed

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DOI	10.1073/pnas.1919913118
	Global inequality remotely sensed
	Mirza M.U.; Xu C.; van Bavel B.; van Nes E.H.; Scheffer M.
发表日期	2021
ISSN	0027-8424
卷号	118 期号:18
英文摘要	Economic inequality is notoriously difficult to quantify as reliable data on household incomes are missing for most of the world. Here, we show that a proxy for inequality based on remotely sensed nighttime light data may help fill this gap. Individual households cannot be remotely sensed. However, as households tend to segregate into richer and poorer neighborhoods, the correlation between light emission and economic thriving shown in earlier studies suggests that spatial variance of remotely sensed light per person might carry a signal of economic inequality. To test this hypothesis, we quantified Gini coefficients of the spatial variation in average nighttime light emitted per person. We found a significant relationship between the resulting light-based inequality indicator and existing estimates of net income inequality. This correlation between light-based Gini coefficients and traditional estimates exists not only across countries, but also on a smaller spatial scale comparing the 50 states within the United States. The remotely sensed character makes it possible to produce high-resolution global maps of estimated inequality. The inequality proxy is entirely independent from traditional estimates as it is based on observed light emission rather than self-reported household incomes. Both are imperfect estimates of true inequality. However, their independent nature implies that the light-based proxy could be used to constrain uncertainty in traditional estimates. More importantly, the light-based Gini maps may provide an estimate of inequality where previously no data were available at all. © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
英文关键词	Inequality; Nighttime light; Remote sensing
语种	英语
scopus关键词	adult; article; household income; human; neighborhood; quantitative analysis; remote sensing; uncertainty; United States
来源期刊	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/238928
作者单位	School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6211 LM, Netherlands; Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, 6700 AA, Netherlands; School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China; Economic and Social History, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584 CS, Netherlands
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Mirza M.U.,Xu C.,van Bavel B.,et al. Global inequality remotely sensed[J],2021,118(18).
APA	Mirza M.U.,Xu C.,van Bavel B.,van Nes E.H.,&Scheffer M..(2021).Global inequality remotely sensed.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,118(18).
MLA	Mirza M.U.,et al."Global inequality remotely sensed".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118.18(2021).