A new indicator of global poverty has been identified by a Stanford study published in the journal Nature.
What are Economic Indicators?
Economic indicators are data points that measure a country’s economic performance and give insight into the future of the economy. In the context of poverty, economic indicators can provide valuable information about a country’s poverty rate, income distribution, and economic security.
These indicators include things like average weekly hours worked, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, median household income, and unemployment rate. Additionally, social indicators such as access to education, health care, and nutrition levels can be used to measure the extent of poverty in a region or country.
By combining these indicators with other data points, governments and organizations can get a better picture of poverty levels in a particular area and develop strategies to reduce poverty.
The most “electrifying” indicator in economics
…if you smell what Stanford is cooking.
All these economic indicators are great but this Stanford Study came to an obvious (in hindsight) conclusion. And that is, Electricity is a key factor in economic growth and other outcomes like improved health.
The study, co-authored by Marshall Burke, Nathan Ratledge, and other researchers, examines the economic impacts of Uganda’s expanding electricity grid. The researchers find that communities with access to electricity experienced improvements in their economic livelihoods roughly double that of regions without power.
This is the first time this technique has been used to evaluate the impact of a particular policy and it offers great potential for assessing economic growth among emerging countries.
The technique combines satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to measure and study poverty in ways that were not previously possible.
It provides reliable data over time and is expected to become readily accessible to researchers studying policies and programs in any country, rich or poor, that are aimed at reducing poverty.
https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/stanford-research-ushers-new-frontier-tackling-global-poverty
