PING  0.9
Statistical data handling and processing in production environment
META_VARIABLExVARIABLE

Provide the correspondance table between derived variables and EU-SILC variables.

Contents

A table named after the value &G_PING_VARIABLExVARIABLE (e.g., META_VARIABLExVARIABLE) shall be defined in the library named after the value &G_PING_LIBCFG (e.g., LIBCFG) so as to contain the correspondance table between IDB/PDB/UDB) so-called derived variables and EU-SILC input variables (collected and transmitted by countries as used in the various databases.

In practice, variable | lib | DB010 | DB020 | RB010 | ... | | src :------—:|:--—:|:--—:|:--—:|:---—:|:------—|:------------—: AGE | C_Var | 1 | | 1 | .. | | idb_calculation AGE | E_Var | 1 | | 1 | .. | | idb_calculation ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ...| ...

In addition to information regargin library location and source/program name, the table contains for each derived variable (single row of the first column) the list of variables (derived or not, in the columns) involved in its calculation.

The syntax used to encode the usage of column variables in the calculation of row/derived variables is the one used for creating format, i.e.:

  • y, if the variable is used in the calculation of the derived variable in year y only, or
  • ys<, if it used from year ys+1 on (year ys excluded), or
  • ys<-, if it used from year ys on, or
  • <ye, if it used till year ye-1 (year ye excluded), or
  • -<ye, if it used till year ye.

In addition, periods/ranges of year are encoded in the following manner:

  • ys-ye, if it used from year ys to year ye (both years included), or
  • ys<-ye, if it used from year ys+1 to year ye (year ys excluded), or
  • ys-<ye, if it used from year ys to year ye-1 (year ye excluded), or
  • ys<-<ye, if it used from year ys+1 to year ye-1 (both years excluded).

Another special label is created:

  • 1 if the column variable is (has been) always used in the calculation of the row variable.

Otherwise, the following encoding is available:

  • . or empty, if the column variable is never used in the calculation of the row variable.

Moreover, it is possible to join different such rules together since a variable may be used over different periods. For that purpose, the comma is used to separate the rules, e.g.:

  • y1, y2-<y3, if the variable has been used in the calculation of the derived variable in year y1 and from year y2 to y3-1 (y3 excluded).

Creation and update

Consider an input CSV table called A.csv, with same structure as above, and stored in a directory named B. In order to create/update the SAS table A in library C, as described above, it is then enough to run: 

%meta_variablexvariable(cds_varxvar=A, cfg=B, clib=C);

Note that, by default, the command %meta_variablexvariable; runs: 

%meta_variablexvariable(cds_varxind=&G_PING_VARIABLExVARIABLE, 
                    cfg=&G_PING_EXTRACTION/config, 
                    clib=&G_PING_LIBCFG);

Example

Generate the table META_VARIABLExVARIABLE in the WORK directory: 

%meta_variablexvariable(clib=WORK);

References

  1. Eurobase online dictionary.
  2. Mack, A. (2016): "Data Handling in EU-SILC".

See also

%silc_ind_info, %meta_variablexindicator, %meta_indicator_contents.