Large Macroeconomic Panel Data (LMPD)

This repo documents the code used to create and analyze a large (macro) economic dataset, used by the United Nations Global Economic Monitoring Brach in different functions.

The dataset includes various variables, e.g:

• Macro: GDP, output gap, ...
• Fiscal: Government debt, Primary balance, ...
• Labor: Productivity growth, annual hours worked, ...
• Inequality: Gini, Top 10% income share, ...
• Trade, Poverty, Investment, Socioeconomic, ...

The full list including sources is described below

We also construct a country-specific commodity price influence index, inspired by Deaton and Miller (1995) and Collier and Goderis (2012). For further information on the index take a look at the separate explanation.

Primary Responsibility for Code and Data: Marten W.

Repo Structure

What are the different data folders?

• raw is for some raw files downloaded directly from different sources that did not have an API , e.g:
  • Corruption Perception Index (Transparceny International)
  • Human Development Index (UNDP)
  • Productivity Data (Conference Board)
  • Scientific Publications per million people (Our World in Data)
  • COMTRADE Data (CEPII)
  • GEMB World Economic Forecasting Data (UN DESA)
• intermediate is meant for intermediate files created during the process of making the Commodity Index
• processed: well, as the name indicates, the processed / cleaned data. That includes for each Source the respective varaibles as well as the final combined dataset in csv and dta format

For most sources, the respective way to download the raw files is described in the Quarto Markdown Document in src.

├── 12 Panel Project.Rproj     # R Project File
├── README.md 
├── data
│   ├── processed              # Processed Data
│   ├── intermediate           # Intermediate data for the Commodity Index
│   └── raw                    # Raw Data
│       └── BACI_HS92_V202501  # BACI Trade Data
├── docs
└── src
    ├── 01_data                # Data Processing Scripts
    ├── 02_commodity           # Commodity Price Index Scripts
    └── 03_analysis            # Combinationa and analysis

To reproduce the dataset, run the scripts in src in the numbered order. You will need to download some raw data files manually, as indicated in the respective scripts.

Variables

Here, you'll find an overview of all the variables, sorted by broad category available in the final dataset (data/processed/final_data.dta). If you use the .dtafile instead of the .csv, you also get explanations for all columns in the header.

Descriptive

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
ISO	ISO Alpha 3 code	/	UN
country	Country Name	/	UN
status	Developing Status	/	UN
wesp_region	WESP Region	/	DESA
wesp_subregion	WESP Subregion	/	DESA
country_code	UN Country Code	/	UN
LDC	LDC Status	Binary	FAO
LLDC	LLDC Status	Binary	FAO
SIDS	SIDS Status	Binary	FAO

Macro

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
gdp_usd	GDP	US$	WEFM
gdp_growth	GDP growth	%	WEFM
gdp_pc	GDP per cap	US$	WEFM
gdp_pc_growth	GDP per capita growth	%	WEFM
oda_gni	Net ODA received	% of GNI	WB
output_gap_pct	Output Gap	% of Potential GDP	IMF

Monetary

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
cbrate	Central Bank Policy Rate	%	GMD
infl	Inflation	% (yoy)	GMD
CPI	CPI	Index, 2010=100	GMD
REER	Real effective exchange rate	Index, 2010=100	GMD
USDfx	USD exchange rate	1 USD in LC	GMD

Fiscal

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
govdebt_GDP	Gov debt	% of GDP	GMD
gen_govrev_GDP	Gov revenue	% of GDP	GMD
gen_govexp_GDP	Gov exp	% of GDP	GMD
inv_GDP	Investment	%of GDP	GMD
fiscal_balance_gdp	net Lending / borrowing	% of GDP	Fiscal Monitor DB IMF
primary_fiscal_balance_gdp	Primary net Lending / Borrwing	% of GDP	Fiscal Monitor DB IMF

Debt

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
interest_payments_gdp	Interest Expense	% of GDP	World Bank WDI
primary_fiscal_balance_gdp	Primary Balance	% of GDP	Fiscal Monitor DB IMF
fiscal_balance_gdp	Gross Fiscal Balance	% of GDP	WDI
net_debt_gdp	Net Debt	% of GDP	Fiscal Monitor DB IMF

Labor

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
unemp	Unemployment Rate	% of population	(via GMD)
labor_productivity_person_growth	Growth of Labor Productivity	per employed	TCB
labor_productivity_hour_growth	Growth of Labor productivity	per hour worked	TCB
total_hours_worked	Total Hours worked	Annual hours	TCB
working_age_pop_pct	Population ages 15-64	% of total population	WDI

Inequality

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
gini	Gini	0-1	World Inequality Database
income_share_b50	Top 10% Income Share	% of total income	World Inequality Database
income_share_t10	Bottom 50% Income Share	% of total income	World Inequality Database
share_ratio	T10/B50 Ratio		Calc

Trade

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
exports_usd	Exports of Goods and Services	current US$	WDI
exports_gdp	Exports of Goods and Services	% of GDP	WDI
imports_usd	Imports of Goods and Services	current US$	WDI
imports_gdp	Imports of Goods and Services	% of GDP	WDI

Poverty

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
pov_international	Population living below 2.15$ Poverty Line	% of population	WB
pov_national	Population living below national poverty lines	% of population	WB
un_multidim_pov	Multidimensional Poverty Threshold (UNDP)	% population	UNDP
Wb_multidim_pov	Multidimensional Poverty (WB)	% of pop	WB

Investment

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
fdi_in_gdp	FDI Inflows	% of GDP	WDI
gross_CF_gdp	gross capital formation	% of GDP	WDI
private_investment_gdp	Gross fixed capital formation, private Sector	% of GDP	ICSD IMF
government_investment_gdp	Gross fixed capital formation, general government	% of GDP	ICSD IMF

Innovation

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
rnd_gdp	R&D expenditure	% of GDP	WDI WB
researchers_per_million	Reseeachers in R&D	per million people	WDI
pub_per_million	Annual articles published in scientific and technical journals per million people	Per million people	Our World in Data

Prices

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
oil_price_index	Oil price Index	2016=100	Primary Commodity Prices IMF
food_price_index	Food Price Index	2016=100	Primary Commodity Prices IMF

Socioeconomic

Code	Variable	Unit	Source
life_expectancy	Life expectancy at birth	years	WDI WB
school_enrollment_primary	School enrollment, primary	% of relevant age group	WDI WB
remittances_gdp	Personal Remittances received	$ US Dollar	WB

Misc

Code	Variable	Unit	Source	Availability
FHI_pr	Political Rights Index	1-7	Freedom House	Full
FHI_cl	civil liberties index	1-7	Freedom House	Full
FHI_status	Freedom Status	Free (F), Partially Free (PF), Not free (NF)	Freedom House	Full
eci	Economic Complexity Index	Ca [-3,3]	OEC	2008-2017
cpi	Corruption Perception Index	0 - 100	Transparency International	2012-2024,
hdi	Human Development Index	0 - 1	UNDP
commodity_index	Commodity Price index		DIY	1995-2023

Summary Statistics

Overview plot (produced with visdat)

For a CSV with some summary statistics take a look at summary_statistics.csv.