In this article for Mint, Niranjan Rajadhyaksha writes about how economists have now begun to use machine learning to extract information from satellite images.

“Economists have traditionally used numbers in their work. They have now begun to use images as well. The use of such satellite images is part of a broader shift towards the use of newer types of inputs for policymaking. There seems to be some change in India as well…Economists have now begun to use machine learning—or the use of computer algorithms that learn from data—to extract information from satellite images. The finance ministry has also used this new empirical tool in its recent work on urbanization.”

Read the article here.

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