My objective for this chapter
In this chapter, I will take a first take on the WID Austrian data set. I will import the dataset with two methods:
Subsequently, I will explore the content of the data folder and describe the structure of the data.
Finally, I will inspect the dataset and explore prototypically different methods to work with the data:
Procedure 2.1 : Download the Austrian dataset “By Country” via the interactive web page
WID_fulldataset_AT_30-08-2024_15_02_39.zip has the structure “WID” + “_fulldataset_” + country code + “_” + day-month-year + “-” + hour-minute-second + “.zip”. Every part of date and time consists of two numbers. The time is UTC, i.e. one hour or two (in summer time) before Austrian local time.
R Code 2.1 : Download data for Austria
# compute only once (manually)
file_path = "data/chap02/WID_fulldataset_AT_30-08-2024_15_02_39/WID_data_AT.csv"
WID_data_AT <- readr::read_delim(file_path, delim = ";", escape_double = FALSE, trim_ws = TRUE)
save_data_file("chap02", WID_data_AT, "WID_data_AT.rds")(For this R code chunk is no output available)
Procedure 2.2 : Download the full WID dataset
wid_all_data.zip.wid_all_data folder (2.38 GB) to .gitignore because you don’t want to store all this files in your GitHub repo. Whenever you need a file to work on copy it programmatically in those areas that will be saved with Git.
The data folder for the Austrian data has four files. The most important is the README.md file, because it explains very detailed the content of the other three files.
The data folder for the full WID data is in its structure not different. It contains one README.md and WID_countries.csv files with the same content as in the country downloaded version. The big difference is that there many WID_data_XX.csv and WID_metadata_XX.csv files. For each country code there is a file with the same structure as in the Austrian example meaning that WID_data_AT.csv has identical name and content in the “By Country” and the full version. Currently (2024-08-30) there are 338 “country” codes, include not only countries but smaller regions with (federal) states (like Alabama in the US and Bavaria in Germany) or larger region with geographical / political areas (like Europe and European Union).
README.md fileThe README.md file contains information that is essential to understand the data structure. I will copy most of the content slightly changed for formatting reasons and add my own comments whenever I feel it is necessary.
The CSV files use the semicolon “;” as a separator. Strings are quoted when required. The first row corresponds to variable names.
This is important information how to upload the .csv files. CSV stands for comma-separated values but in the WID case the separation character is a semi-colon. Instead of using the readr::read_csv() we have to use the more general readr::read_delim() function and specifying the delimiter as “;”.
The
WID_countries.csvfile contains five variables:
- alpha2: the 2-letter country/region code. It mostly follows the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 nomenclature, with some additions to account for former countries, regions and subregions. Regions within country XX are indicated as XX-YY, where YY is the region code. World regions are indicated as XX and XX-MER, the first one using purchasing power parities (PPP), (the default) and the second one using market exchange rates (MER). See the technical note “Prices and currency conversions in WID.world” for details.
- titlename: the name of the country/region as it would appear in an English sentence (i.e. including the definite article, if any).
- shortname: the name of the country/region as it would appear on its own in English (i.e. excluding the definite article).
- region: broad world region to which the country belongs (similar to the first-level division of the United Nations geoscheme).
- region2: detailed world region to which the country belongs (similar to the second-level division of the United Nations geoscheme).
The United Nation Geoscheme of the United Nations used by the WID is a tool widely utilized by organizations and governments, promotes a detailed worldview by fragmenting continents into more manageable portions. Although initially designed for statistical purposes by the United Nations Statistics Division, its application has extended beyond this original intent. But it is not uncontroversial.
For example there is a recognition differences for Palestine and Kosovo. The UN recognizes 195 countries: 193 that belong to the United Nations (UN) plus the Holy See (Vatican) and the State of Palestine, which are non-member observer states. See the discussion in How many countries are there in the world with a list of countries according to the UN geoscheme and the Official Country List.
For the WID the country questions is not the all important question because it (tries to) includes all self-governed territories that both have substantial economic resources of their own. So it contains Palestine, Kosovo, Taiwan and many more territories not recognized as an country.
The WID_data_XX.csv files contain seven variables:
- country: country/region code (see Section 2.4.1.1).
- variable: WID variable code (see below for details).
- percentile: WID percentile code (see below for details).
- year: the year of the data point.
- value: the value of the data point.
- age: code indicating the age group to which the data point refers to.
- pop: code indicating the population unit to which the data point refers to.
The WID_metadata_XX.csv contains seventeen variables:
- country: the country/region code.
- variable: the variable code to which the metadata refer.
- age: the code of the age group to which the population refer.
- pop: the code of the population unit to which the population refer.
- countryname: the name of the country/region as it would appear in an English sentence.
- shortname: the name of the country/region as it would appear on its own in English.
- simpledes: decription of the variable in plain English.
- technicaldes: description of the variable via accounting identities.
- shorttype: short description of the variable type (average, aggregate, share, index, etc.) in plain English.
- longtype: longer, more detailed description of the variable type in plain English.
- shortpop: short description of the population unit (individuals, tax units, equal-split, etc.) in plain English.
- longpop: longer, more detailed description of the population unit in plain English.
- shortage: short description of the age group (adults, full population, etc.) in plain English.
- longage: longer, more detailed description of the age group in plain English.
- unit: unit of the variable (the 3-letter currency code for monetary amounts).
- source: The source(s) used to compute the data.
- method: Methological details describing how the data was constructed and/or caveats.
The meaning of each variable is described in the metadata files. The complete WID variable codes (i.e.
sptinc992j) obey to the following logic:
- the first letter indicates the variable type (i.e. “s” for share).
- the next five letters indicate the income/wealth/other concept (i.e.
ptincfor pre-tax national income).- the next three digits indicate the age group (i.e.
992for adults).- the last letter indicate the population unit (i.e.
jfor equal-split).
There are two types of percentiles on WID.world : (1) group percentiles and (2) generalized percentiles. The interpretation of income (or wealth) average, share or threshold series depends on which type of percentile is looked at.
Group percentiles are defined as follows:
- p0p50 (bottom 50% of the population),
- p50p90 (next 40%),
- p90p100 (top 10%),
- p99p100 (top 1%),
- deciles:
- p0p10 (bottom 10% of the population, i.e. first decile),
- p10p20 (next 10%, i.e. second decile),
- p20p30 (next 10%, i.e. third decile),
- p30p40 (next 10%, i.e. fourth decile),
- p40p50 (next 10%, i.e. fifth decile),
- p50p60 (next 10%, i.e. sixth decile),
- p60p70 (next 10%, i.e. seventh decile),
- p70p80 (next 10%, i.e. eighth decile),
- p80p90 (next 10%, i.e. ninth decile),
- p90p100 (next 10%, i.e. tenth decile, already emntioned under top 10%)
- p0p90 (bottom 90%),
- p0p99 (bottom 99% of the population),
- p99.9p100 (top 0.1%),
- p99.99p100 (top 0.01%).
For each group percentiles, we provide the associated income or wealth shares, averages and thresholds.
- group percentile shares correspond to the income (or wealth) share held by a given group percentile. For instance, the fiscal income share of group p0p50 is the share of total fiscal income captured by the bottom 50% group.
- group percentile averages correspond to the income or wealth annual income (or wealth) average within a given group percentile group. For instance, the fiscal income average of group p0p50 is the average annual fiscal income of the bottom 50% group.
- group percentile thresholds correspond to the minimum income (or wealth) level required to belong to a given group percentile. For instance, the fiscal income threshold of group p90p100 is the minimum annual fiscal income required to belong to the top 10% group.
When the data allows, the WID.world website makes it possible to produce shares, averages and thresholds for any group percentile (say, for instance, average income of p43p99.92). These are not stored in bulk data tables.
For certain countries, because of data limitations, we are not able to provide the list of group percentiles described above. We instead store specific group percentiles (these can be, depending on the countries p90p95, p95p100, p95p99, p99.5p100, p99.5p99.9, p99.75p100, p99.95p100, p99.95p99.99, p99.995p100, p99.9p99.95, p99.9p99.99 or p99p99.5).
Generalized percentiles (g-percentiles) are defined to as follows: p0, p1, p2, …, p99, p99.1, p99.2, …, p99.9, p99.91, p99.92, …, p99.99, p99.991, p99.992 ,…, p99.999. There are 127 g-percentiles in total.
For each g-percentiles, we provide shares, averages, top averages and thresholds.
- g-percentiles shares correspond to the income (or wealth) share captured by the population group above a given g-percentile value. For example, the fiscal income share of g-percentile p90 corresponds to the fiscal income share held by the top 10% group; the fiscal income share of g-percentile p99.9 corresponds to the fiscal income share of the top 0.1% income group and so on. By construction, the fiscal income share of g-percentile p0 corresponds to the share held by 100% of the population and is equal to 100%. Formally, the g-percentile share at g-percentile pX corresponds to the share of the top (100-X)% group.
- g-percentile averages correspond to the average income or wealth between two consecutive g-percentiles.
- 1% population group: Average income of g-percentile p0 corresponds to the average annual income of the bottom 1% group, p2 corresponds to the next 1% group and so on until p98 (the 1% population group below the top 1%).
- Bottom 10% group of earners within the top 1% group of earners: Average income of g-percentile p99 corresponds to average annual of group percentile p99p99.1 (i.e. the bottom 10% group of earners within the top 1% group of earners), p99.1 corresponds to the next 0.1% group, p99.2 corresponds to the next 0.1% group and so on until p99.8.
- Bottom 10% group of earners within the top 0.1% group of earners: Average income of p99.9 corresponds to the average annual income of group percentile p99.9p99.91 (i.e. the bottom 10% group of earners within the top 0.1% group of earners), p99.91 corresponds to the next 0.01% group, p99.92 corresponds to the next 0.01% group and so on until p99.98.
- Bottom 10% group within the top 0.01% group of earners: Average income of p99.99, corresponds to the average annual income of group percentile p99.99p99.991 (i.e. the bottom 10% group within the top 0.01% group of earners), p99.991 corresponds to the next 0.001%, p99.992 corresponds to the next 0.001% group and so on until p99.999 (average income of the top 0.001% group).
For instance, average fiscal income of g-percentile p50 is equal to the average annual fiscal income of the p50p51 group percentile (i.e. the average annual income of the population group earning more than 50% of the population and less than the top 49% of the population). The average fiscal income of g-percentile p99 is equal to the average annual fiscal income within group percentile p99p99.1 (i.e. a group representing 0.1% of the total population earning more than 99% of the population but less than the top 0.9% of the population).
- g-percentile top-averages correspond to the average income or wealth above a given g-percentile threshold. For instance the top average fiscal income at g-percentile p50 corresponds to the average annual fiscal income of individuals earning more than 50% of the population. The top average fiscal income at g-percentile p90 corresponds to the average annual fiscal income of the top 10% group.
- g-percentile thresholds correspond to minimum income (or wealth) level required to belong to the population group above a given g-percentile value. For instance, the fiscal income threshold at g-percentile p90 corresponds to the minimum annual fiscal income required to belong to the top 10% group. Fiscal income threshold at g-percentile p99.9 corresponds to the minimum annual fiscal income required to belong to the top 0.1% group. Formally, the g-percentile threshold at g-percentile pX corresponds to the threshold of the top (100-X)% group.
R Code 2.2 : Look at the AT dataset
| Name | WID_AT |
| Number of rows | 228538 |
| Number of columns | 7 |
| _______________________ | |
| Column type frequency: | |
| character | 5 |
| numeric | 2 |
| ________________________ | |
| Group variables | None |
Variable type: character
| skim_variable | n_missing | complete_rate | min | max | empty | n_unique | whitespace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| country | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| variable | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 974 | 0 |
| percentile | 0 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 388 | 0 |
| age | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| pop | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Variable type: numeric
| skim_variable | n_missing | complete_rate | mean | sd | p0 | p25 | p50 | p75 | p100 | hist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 0 | 1 | 2.00164e+03 | 1.313000e+01 | 1950 | 1992.00 | 2003.0 | 2012.00 | 2.023000e+03 | ▁▁▅▇▇ |
| value | 0 | 1 | 2.55648e+09 | 3.893223e+10 | -80197894144 | 0.67 | 756.1 | 57360.05 | 2.510236e+12 | ▇▁▁▁▁ |
I am going to try different methods to work with the data from the WID. I will use as a prototypical example the Austrian income inequality during 1980-2022 of the pre-tax national income for the bottom 50%, middle 40%, top 10%, and top 1%.
I have prepared the above mentioned task at the interactive WID website. The middle 40% is missing in the key indicators, so I had to use the menu “MORE INDICATORS”, Here is the screenshot of my result:
Sharing the results
Clicking at the top right arrow opens the option “Share” that offers several possibilities to disseminate the result.
The iframe option does not work. I do not know why this is the case. The standard reason for a “refused to connect” error occurs when the website being embedded has an X-Frame-Options policy set to restrict embedding in an iframe. But this shouldn’t be the case because the iframe code is offered freely at the WID interactive website.
URL provided by interactive WID website
Following the link the WID website will construct the graph and provide other information for further explorations (averages in absolute and threshold of the start amount of population group in currency units, and the beta coefficient), the full sharing set from the interactive construction website, the possibility to download the data and a detailed description of the variables (in plain English and more technical via account identities)
The concept of beta coefficient, typically used in finance to measure market sensitivity, is not directly applicable to WID.world’s data. WID.world focuses on estimating and analyzing income and wealth inequality, not market returns or portfolio performance.
However, if we were to interpret the beta coefficient in a broader sense, considering the database’s focus on inequality, we could think of it as a measure of the sensitivity of income or wealth inequality to changes in macroeconomic variables, such as GDP growth, inflation, or interest rates.
In this context, the beta coefficient would represent the relationship between changes in these macroeconomic variables and the corresponding changes in income or wealth inequality. A high beta coefficient would indicate that income or wealth inequality is highly sensitive to changes in these macroeconomic variables, while a low beta coefficient would suggest a weaker relationship.
Another option is to download a static graphic in JPG format from the WID website. It is a nice summary but has not as many options to refine, explore and get meta information as the URL in Section 2.6.1.3.
Before I knew that the {wid} package will not be supported anymore (read the recent notice at the start of the README file on the GitHub repository by Thomas Blanchet1), I have used for my first trial the wid::download_wid() function. It worked fine and I hope that there will in the future another maintainer for this useful package.
R Code 2.3 : Download Austrian pre-tax income data using the {wid} package
# download from WID only once (manually)
sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1 <- wid::download_wid(
indicators = "sptinc", # Shares of pre-tax national income
areas = "AT", # Austria
perc = c(
"p0p50", # bottom 50%
"p50p90", # middle 40%
"p90p100", # top 10%
"p99p100" # top 1%
)
)
save_data_file("chap02", sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1, "sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1.rds")(For this R code chunk is no output available)
R Code 2.4 : Pre-tax national income for Austria (using {wid})
sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1 <- base::readRDS("data/chap02/sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1.rds")
ggplot2::ggplot(sptincj992_wid_AT_50_40_10_1,
ggplot2::aes(x = year, y = value, color = percentile)) +
ggplot2::geom_line() +
ggplot2::geom_point() +
ggplot2::ylab("share of income") +
ggplot2::scale_color_discrete(
breaks = c(
'p50p90', 'p90p100', 'p0p50', 'p99p100'
),
labels = c(
"p99p100" = "top 1%",
"p0p50" = "bottom 50%",
"p90p100" = "top 10%",
"p50p90" = "middle 40%"
),
) +
ggplot2::ggtitle("Pre-tax national income inequality in Austria")
Using the data directly from the original country file is the most general option with the highest flexibility. But to get a similar interactive graph one not has to use for the plot additionally to the {ggplot2} as shown in R Code 2.4 also the {plotly} package.
I need the following variable:
s
ptinc.j.992.Taking this codes together results in the variable sptincj992.
I need the following percentiles:
p0p50,p50p90,p90p100,p99p100
R Code 2.5 : Preparing Austrian data for pre-tax national income (using country file)
# compute only once (manually)
WID_data_AT <- base::readRDS("data/chap02/WID_data_AT.rds")
sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1 <- WID_data_AT |>
dplyr::filter(
variable == "sptincj992" & (
percentile == "p0p50" |
percentile == "p50p90" |
percentile == "p90p100" |
percentile == "p99p100")
) |>
dplyr::select(1:5)
save_data_file("chap02", sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1, "sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1.rds")R Code 2.6 : Plot Austrian pre-tax national income (using country file)
sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1 <- base::readRDS("data/chap02/sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1.rds")
fig_sptincj992 <- ggplot2::ggplot(sptincj992_country_AT_50_40_10_1,
ggplot2::aes(x = year, y = value, color = percentile)) +
ggplot2::geom_line() +
ggplot2::geom_point() +
ggplot2::ylab("share of income") +
ggplot2::scale_color_discrete(
breaks = c(
'p50p90', 'p90p100', 'p0p50', 'p99p100'
),
labels = c(
"p99p100" = "top 1%",
"p0p50" = "bottom 50%",
"p90p100" = "top 10%",
"p50p90" = "middle 40%"
),
) +
ggplot2::ggtitle("Pre-tax national income inequality in Austria")
fig_sptincj992
We got the same results for our own computation from the original country file above with the calculation using the {wid} package Listing / Output 2.1. (Hover over the link to compare both graphs.)
R Code 2.7 : Numbered R Code Title
plotly::ggplotly(fig_sptincj992)Resource 2.1 : Plotly Resources for R
Author and Maintainer Thomas Blanchet has changed jobs and is not affiliated anymore with the WIL.↩︎
There is no direct link to this section. The URL #first-letter-code` is not unique. It is used for the series type which comes before the population unit with the same URL.↩︎
2.6.1.5 Social media
Additionally you can post the result of your work on your Twitter or Facebook account.