Philippine Standard time

Shedding Light on Bank Depositsin Philippine Provinces


Satellite night light images of earth taken from space are largely available to the public. All pixels in these images have corresponding numerical values that represent brightness that can then be used in various ways to benefit society. In this paper, the potential of night light data in predicting total bank deposits in Philippine provinces is explored to offer alternatives to traditional methods of collecting wealth-based data, especially under challenging circumstances. A meaningful positive relationship between night light values and bank deposits at the provincial level can also allow more targeted interventions by policymakers and development advocates. Linear and non-linear regression methods are applied on cross-sectional 2020 provincial data to infer feature importance values of light variables when used together with traditional economic variables. Data for the period 2015 to 2020 are examined to test for a causal relationship between annual changes in light metrics and annual changes in deposits. A panel regression approach is also applied on information for the period 2016 to 2020. SHAP values are used to enrich the analysis with insights that may be useful for policymakers.


Citations

This publication has been cited time(s).