This dataset was compiled from the Penn World Tables and other sources
by Adalmir Marquetti, March 9, 1997.
How to Use the Data
When you click on the "Download" link, the file will be downloaded to your browser. At this point save the file to your hard disk in a directory and with a name you choose.
The data files are text files representing spreadsheets in "text" form. Each row of the spreadsheet ends with a carriage return, and the individual entries are separated by tabs. Once you have downloaded the file to your own computer, most spreadsheet programs will open these files directly. In some cases you may have to "import" the spreadsheet.
Each row of the spreadsheet contains the following variables:
1. Country: the country name. The countries included are:
ALGERIA, ANGOLA, BENIN, BOTSWANA, BURKINA FASO, BURUNDI, CAMEROON, CAPE VERDE IS., CENTRAL AFR. R., CHAD, COMOROS, CONGO, EGYPT, ETHIOPIA, GABON, GAMBIA, GHANA, GUINEA, GUINEA-BISS, IVORY COST, KENYA, LESOTHO, LIBERIA, MADAGASCAR, MALAWI, MALI, MAURITANIA, MAURITIUS, MOROCCO, MOZAMBIQUE, NAMIBIA, NIGER, NIGERIA, REUNION, RWANDA, SENEGAL, SEYCHELLES, SIERRA LEONE, SOMALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SWAZILAND, TANZANIA, TOGO, TUNISIA, UGANDA, ZAIRE, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE, BARBADOS, CANADA, COSTA RICA, DOMINICAN REP., EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, HONDURAS, JAMAICA, MEXICO, NICARAGUA, PANAMA, PUERTO RICO,TRINIDAD&TOBAGO, U.S.A., ARGENTINA, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, GUYANA, PARAGUAY, PERU, SURINAME, URUGUAY, VENEZUELA, BANGLADESH, CHINA, HONG KONG, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRAQ, ISRAEL, JAPAN, JORDAN, KOREA. REP., MALAYSIA, MYANMAR, NEPAL, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, SAUDI ARABIA, SINGAPORE, SRI LANKA, SYRIA, TAIWAN, THAILAND, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, CYPRUS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, WEST GERMANY, GREECE, ICELAND, IRELAND, ITALY, LUXEMBOURG, MALTA, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, U.K., U.S.S.R., YUGOSLAVIA, AUSTRALIA, FIJI, NEW ZELAND, PAPUA N. GUINEA.
2. Year
3. WS (%): The wage share as a percentage of real GDP.
4. N (1000s): Number of employed workers in thousands.
5. X ($1000/year): Real GDP in 1985 purchasing power parity (1985 PPP, Chain Index)
6. g (%/5year): Growth rate of GDP calculated between the year t and the year t-5.
7. k ($1000/worker): Capital-labor ratio, using our estimate of capital stock.
8. rho (%/year): Productivity of capital (output-capital ratio), using our estimate of capital stock.
9. chi (%/5year): Growth rate of capital productivity calculated between the year t and the year t-5, using our estimate of capital stock.
10. k(PWT) ($1000/worker): Capital-labor ratio, calculated from the PWT v. 5.6 estimate of capital stock when it is available.
11. rho(PWT) (%/year): Productivity of capital (output-capital ratio), calculated from the PWT v. 5.6
estimate of capital stock when it is available.
12. chi(PWT) (%/5year): Growth rate of capital productivity calculated between the year t and the year t -5, using the PWT v. 5.6 estimate of capital stock when it is available.
13. x ($1000/worker-year): Labor productivity; real GDP in 1985 purchasing power parity per worker.
14. gamma (%/5year): Growth rate of labor productivity between the year t and the year t - 5.
15. i ($1000/worker-year): Investment per worker-year.
16. c ($1000/worker-year): Social consumption per worker-year.
17. w ($1000/worker-year): Average real wage.
18. r (%/year): Profit rate, calculated using our estimates of the capital stock.
19. r(PWT) (%/year): Profit rate, calculated from the PWT v. 5.6 estimate of capital stock when it is available.
Appendix: Data Source and Methodology
This appendix presents the data source and a description of the methodology used to calculate the data set. The aim is to allow its users not only to reproduce the data but also to make improvements toit. The data source utilized is, basically, the Penn World Table (Mark 5.6) _ PWT v. 5.6. The PWT v. 5.6 displays for 152 countries a basic set of national accounts, relative prices, and demographic data which allows comparisons between countries and over time. For some countries the capital stock data is also reported for the 1965-1992 period. The PWT v. 5.6 covers the 1950-1992 period for some countries and for others it starts after 1950 and/or finishes before 1992. For the list of variables and the exposition of the PWT methodology, see Summers and Heston (1991).
In the present data set all countries with the first observation after 1960 were eliminated. The result is a sample of 126 countries with the following distribution per continent: Africa, 48; America, 27; Asia, 22; Europe, 25; Oceania, 4.
The variables that compose this data set and the procedure to calculate them are described below.
The wage share (WS) is share of the employee compensation in the Gross Domestic Product. It was calculated in current prices of the local currency. It is the only variable that is not obtained in the PWT.
The computation of the wage share is based on the following sources:
for 1959:
Yearbook of National Accounts Statistics 1964. United Nations: New York, 1967;
for 1960-1980:
Yearbook of National Accounts Statistics 1980, Vol. II International tables. United Nations: New York, 1982;
for 1970-1986:
National Accounts Statistics: Analysis of Main Aggregates, 1986. United Nations: New York, 1989 and
National Accounts Statistics: Main Aggregates and Detailed Tables, 1986. United Nations, 1989. New York;
for 1986-1990:
National Accounts Statistics: Main Aggregates and Detailed Tables, 1992. United Nations, 1994.
The variable N (1000) represents the number of workers. It is obtained dividing the variable X by the real GDP per worker, RGDPW, in the PWT 5.v.6.
The variable X ($1000/year) represents the GDP in 1985 purchasing power parity (1985 PPP). It is obtained multiplying the variable population and the real GDP per capital in 1985 PPP (chain index), respectively, POP and RGDPCH in PWT v.5.6.
The variable "rho" is the productivity of capital (output-capital ratio). It was obtained dividing X per the estimated capital stock.
Our stock of capital is obtained by the Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM) using the investment series computed from the variable real investment share of GDP presented in the PWT v. 5.6. There are two major problems in our attempt to estimate the capital stock that involves strong simplifications. First, the investment data is not presented by categories of gross fixed capital formation and it includes the gross residential capital formation as well as change in stocks. Second, the investment variable is reported for a short period of time. The solution for these problems is to consider not only that all categories of gross capital formation have the same asset life, but also that the asset life is very short.
The PIM procedure employed follows Charles Hulton and Frank Wycoff (1981). The depreciation takes a geometric form. Hulton and Wycoff (1981, p. 94) calculated the rate of depreciation (d) with the expression (d= R/T) where R is the factor that defines the degree of declining balance due to depreciation, and T is the average asset life. The average value found by Hulton and Wycoff (1981) for R is 1.65 for equipment categories, and 0.91 for structure categories. The R employed for us is 1.05. It was calculated considering that equipment categories represent 20 percent and structure categories 80 percent of the gross capital formation. The asset life considered was 14 years, hence the depreciation rate was 7.5 percent. The net capital stock was computed using the expression KT = ((t = i, T) (1 - 0.075)(T-i) IT (i = 1, ...,T) where I is the investment series calculated from the variables real investment share of GDP, real GDP per capita in constant dollars (chain index), and population in the PWT v. 5.6. The first observation for capital stock is 1963 for countries whose first observation for investment is 1950.
Our capital stock estimate is the cumulated, depreciated sum of the past aggregate investment, while our benchmark is the "cumulated, depreciated sum of past gross domestic investment in producer durables, nonresidential construction, and other constructions" (Summers and Heston, 1991, p. 347) augmented by the capital stock of the residential construction.
Certain problems are inherent in this attempt to extend the PWT data. First, there is the problem of data quality on investment of the PWT table. Srinivasan (1995) calls the attention for this problem. Second, our methodological procedure implies in considering a common and high rate of depreciation across countries. However, the assumption of common rate of depreciation or common asset life is considered a first step to enhance international comparability of capital stock estimates (Peter Groote, Roanld Albers, and Herman de Jong, 1996). The effect of using a short service life is to understate the size of capital stock and to increase the variance of the capital stock growth rate. But, as Blades (1993, p. 404) remarks the "use of erroneous service lives does not introduce any systematic bias into capital stock growth rates".
The variable k is the capital labor ratio calculated as the ratio of the estimated capital stock to the variable N.
The variable "chi" is the growth rate of capital productivity from year t to t - 5 calculated from the estimated capital stock.
The variable "rho(PWT)" is the productivity of capital (output-capital ratio) calculated from the PWT v.5.6 capital stock estimations, when they are available. It is calculated following two steps. First, the non-residential capital stock per worker, variable KAPW in the PWT v. 5.6, was "augmented" by the residential construction, variable KRES in the PWT v. 5.6. Then, the real GDP per Worker was divided by the result of the above multiplication. The PWT v. 5.6 capital stock estimates represent a benchmark for our estimates. It is the "cumulated, depreciated sum of past gross domestic investment in producer durables, nonresidential construction, and other constructions" (Summers and Heston, 1991, p. 347).
The variable k(PWT) is the capital labor ratio calculated as the ratio of the augmented PWT capital stock to the variable N.
The variable "chi(PWT)" is the growth rate of capital productivity from year t to t-5, calculated from the augmented PWT capital stock.
The variable x represents labor productivity. It is the variable real GDP per worker-year, RGDPW, in the PWT v.5.6.
The variable "gamma" is the growth rate of labor productivity from year t to t - 5.
The variable i is the investment per worker. It is obtained following the steps described below. First, the real share of the net foreign balance (NFB) of GDP was calculated as:
NFB/RGDPCH = nfb = 100 - C - I - G
where C is the real consumption share of the GDP, I is the real investment share of the GDP, and G is the real government share of the GDP from the PWT. Then, the investment share (IS) was computed by adding the share of investment to the net foreign balance. The last step was to multiply the variable IS by X and divided by N. Therefore, the variable i includes the net foreign balance which explains why this variable has some negative observations.
The variable c is the consumption per worker. First, the consumption share (CS) was calculated as CS = 100 - IS. Then, the variable CS was multiplied by X and divided by the number of workers, N. Therefore, the variable c includes the net government consumption.
The variable w is the real average wage. It is calculated multiplying the wage share by X and then dividing by N.
The variable r is the profit rate calculated using our estimates of the capital stock. It is obtained applying the following expression:
r = (1 - WS)rho
The variable r(PWT) is the profit rate calculated using the augmented PWT capital stock when it is available. It is obtained applying the following expression:
r = (1 - WS)rho(PWT).
References:
Blades, Derek. 1993. Comparing capital stocks. In Explaining economic growth: essays in honor of Angus Maddison, eds. Adam Szirmai, bar Van Ark, and Dirk Pilat. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Groote, Peter, Ronald Albers, and Herman de Jong, 1996. A Standardised Time Series of the Stock of Fixed Capital in the Netherlands, 1900-1995. Research Memorandum, University of Groningen.
Summers, Robert and Allen Heston. 1991. The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An expanded set of international comparisons, 1950-1988. Quarterly Journal of Economics 106: 327-68.