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Shedding Light on Regional Growth and Convergence in India

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Abstract

One of the well documented facts about India's rapid growth since 1991 has been the accompanying unequal sub-national experiences. In this paper, using unsaturated night-light data for 1996-2010, we investigate patterns of growth at the district level. We find evidence of absolute convergence. Disaggregating along rural and urban di- mensions, we also show that this is mainly due to faster growth in rural areas. Further, districts that have grown faster are ones that are geographically disadvantaged - fur- ther away from the coast, with lower agricultural suitability of land, and more rugged terrains. The convergence results are also robust to a few of the major policy initiatives that overlapped our period of analysis.

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  • Areendam Chanda & Sujana Kabiraj, 2018. "Shedding Light on Regional Growth and Convergence in India," Departmental Working Papers 2018-08, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2018-08
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    2. Syed Rafsan Ali & Syed Abul Basher & Zaeem-Al Ehsan, 2025. "Economic vulnerability amidst COVID-19: a district-level analysis of Bangladesh using satellite nightlight data," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 297-326, March.
    3. Areendam Chanda & C. Justin Cook, 2019. "Who Gained from India's Demonetization? Insights from Satellites and Surveys," Departmental Working Papers 2019-06, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    4. Beyer, Robert & Yao, Jiaxiong & Hu, Yingyao, 2022. "Measuring Quarterly Economic Growth from Outer Space," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264007, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Priyaranjan Jha & Karan Talathi, 2024. "Impact of Colonial Institutions on Economic Growth and Development in India: Evidence from Night-Lights Data," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(4), pages 1653-1708.
    6. Beyer, Robert C.M. & Franco-Bedoya, Sebastian & Galdo, Virgilio, 2021. "Examining the economic impact of COVID-19 in India through daily electricity consumption and nighttime light intensity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Das, Abhiman & Ghani, Ejaz & Grover, Arti & Kerr, William & Nanda, Ramana, 2024. "JUE insight: Infrastructure and Finance: Evidence from India’s GQ highway network," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    8. Beyer, Robert C.M. & Jain, Tarun & Sinha, Sonalika, 2023. "Lights out? COVID-19 containment policies and economic activity," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Priyaranjan Jha & Karan Talathi, 2023. "Correction to: Trade liberalization and local development in India: evidence from nighttime lights," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 85-85, July.
    10. Syed Abul Basher & Salim Rashid & Mohammad Riad Uddin, 2023. "Regional convergence in Bangladesh using night lights," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(18), pages 2581-2588, October.
    11. Syed Abul, Basher & Jobaida, Behtarin & Salim, Rashid, 2022. "Convergence across Subnational Regions of Bangladesh – What the Night Lights Data Say?," MPRA Paper 111963, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ajit Nag & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2023. "Does club convergence matter? Empirical evidence on inequality in the human development index among Indian states," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Tahir Yousaf, 2025. "Balancing act: Examining the trade‐offs between regional convergence and economic growth in China's province managing county reform," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 339-368, April.
    14. Costa de Arguibel Facundo & Sánchez Vargas Isabela & González Fernando Antonio Ignacio & Dip Juan Antonio, 2023. "Convergencia entre distritos argentinos: Un enfoque de econometría espacial," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4638, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    15. Ahmad, Zofia & Chicoine, Luke, 2021. "Silk Roads to Riches: Persistence Along an Ancient Trade Network," MPRA Paper 105146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Chanda, Areendam & Cook, C. Justin, 2022. "Was India’s demonetization redistributive? Insights from satellites and surveys," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. World Bank, 2020. "India Development Update, July 2020," World Bank Publications - Reports 34367, The World Bank Group.
    18. Priyaranjan Jha & Karan Talathi, 2025. "Regional Autonomy and Development: Evidence from Madhya Pradesh – Chhattisgarh Split in India," CESifo Working Paper Series 12264, CESifo.
    19. Matthieu Charpe, 2023. "Convergence heterogeneity at the local level in sub‐Saharan Africa," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(2), pages 273-305, April.
    20. Bibek Adhikari & Saroj Dhital, 2021. "Decentralization and regional convergence: Evidence from night‐time lights data," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1066-1088, July.
    21. Nurlatifah Hartojo & Mohamad Ikhsan & Teguh Dartanto & Sudarno Sumarto, 2022. "A Growing Light in the Lagging Region in Indonesia: The Impact of Village Fund on Rural Economic Growth," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, September.
    22. Syed Basher & Francesca Di Iorio & Stefano Fachin, 2020. "Regional Income Dynamics in Bangladesh: The Road to a Balanced Development is in the Middle," DSS Empirical Economics and Econometrics Working Papers Series 2021/1, Centre for Empirical Economics and Econometrics, Department of Statistics, "Sapienza" University of Rome.
    23. Priyanka Dutta & Hemanta Barman, 2022. "Services sector growth and interstate income divergence in India," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 995-1015, October.
    24. Rishika Raj & Bimal Kishore Sahoo, 2025. "Dietary diversity in the face of climate change: An Indian household perspective," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 17(2), pages 515-539, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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