應用夜間燈光量測經濟活動及區域所得

Applying Nighttime Light on the Measurements of Economic Activity and Regional Income

台灣用來代表所得的指標中，國內生產毛額會每季更新，各縣市居民所得雖有家庭收支調查則每年更新，缺乏了一種高頻率且高解析度的所得或整體經濟活動指標。遙測數據擁有大面積重複蒐集資料的特性，過去已有文獻將遙測夜間燈光用於估計國家或區域的經濟活動水準，但大多以年資料進行探討。
本研究使用了夜間燈光數據（2012年4月到2020年11月的NPP-VIIRS之夜間燈光月資料），對台灣的國內生產毛額及各縣市平均家戶收支進行定態檢核與迴歸分析。從結果可發現：（一）夜間燈光數據與台灣國內生產毛額及各縣市平均家戶收支皆有顯著相關。（二）燈光數據可以代表某區域的經濟活動量。（三）燈光成長率與經濟成長率沒有顯著關係。（四）夜間燈光可以用來估計縣市家庭收入，夜間燈光可延伸作為縣市區域所得指標，且縣市夜間燈光與治安案件數有負向關係，因此說明縣市所得會影響治安情況。

The most important macroeconomics indicator - gross domestic product (GDP)- is revealed every quarter of the year. In Taiwan, there is even no regional gross product and an economic survey–household income and expenditure–is carried out every year. We don’t have a high frequency and high resolution income or economic development indicator. A remote sensing–nighttime light–had been applied to be a macroeconomic indicator in some countries. However, only yearly time series and cross sectional data was adopted in the literature.
The VIIRS nighttime lights data from April, 2012 to November, 2020, in Taiwan and regression was run in this study. It was found that VIIRS nighttime light was significantly correlated to Taiwan’s GDP and household income and expenditure of cities and counties. Nighttime light has monthly data and can be zoomed into a region. There is no significant correlation between the growth rate of nighttime light and economic growth. The monthly crime cases of cities/counties has negative correlation with nighttime light. Therefore, nighttime light can be an indicator of cities/counties’economic and criminal activities.