Satellite-detected night lights data are widely used to evaluate economic impacts of sanctions. Such data should be free from political manipulation. However, measurement errors in these data, from blurring and bottom-coding, are rarely considered. To study such errors, we use a difference-in-differences analysis of impacts of closing the Kaesong Industrial Zone in North Korea—a sanction South Korea imposed in 2016. Luminosity in the affected region declined by a precisely estimated 50 percent. When using the popular Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) night lights data the apparent impacts are imprecisely estimated and far smaller. Measurement errors in DMSP data may distort evaluations of sanctions.

中文翻译：

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流行夜间灯光数据的测量误差可能会影响经济制裁的估计影响：关闭开城工业区的证据


卫星探测到的夜间灯光数据被广泛用于评估制裁的经济影响。此类数据不应受到政治操纵。然而，这些数据中由于模糊和底部编码而产生的测量误差却很少被考虑。为了研究此类错误，我们对关闭朝鲜开城工业区（韩国于 2016 年实施的制裁）的影响进行了双重差分分析。精确估计，受影响地区的光度下降了 50%。当使用流行的国防气象卫星计划（DMSP）夜间灯光数据时，明显的影响估计不精确，而且要小得多。 DMSP 数据中的测量误差可能会扭曲制裁评估。