Data (New)

Database Files in IFs

Historical Databases

International Futures (IFs) modeling application contains two large historical databases, IFsHistSeries & IFsHistSeriesDyadic. The former provides monadic information (values per entity), and the latter provides bilateral information (values per entity-pair). These databases consist of a large collection of time-series tables. Hence, each data table is called a data series in the IFs system. These data series cover a large number of variables on IFs model issue areas like population, education, health, agriculture, energy, economics, environment, infrastructure, governance and international politics.

At present IFs data tables contain data for 188 entities (countries/regions). Temporal coverage, in most cases, start in 1960.

The model uses these data tables to,

1.     Initialize values for IFs variables in the base year. These tables are also called preprocessors series.

2.     Build models to analyze and use the relationships between variables. These tables are also called series for analytical functions.

3.     Display historical trends in the IFs interface. These tables are also referred to as historical analog series.

4.     Provide projections from other agencies for comparisons and analysis.

5.     Enables model users to explore patterns, understand relationships and estimate parameters.

More details on the structure of historical databases can be found here.

Meta Data

All meta data (e.g., definitions, units, data source) are stored separately under the data dictionary files (DataDict.db or DataDictDyadic.db). For each data series in the historical databases, we have a reference (one row) in the data dictionary. IFs users can access this information directly through the database files, or through the IFs interface by clicking the Data Information tab when available.

Detailed description on the structure of data dictionary files can be found here.

Sing-Year Data and Parameters

In addition to historical databases. IFs sometimes relies on single-year data in its model initialization and projection. Single-year data are normally stored under the file IFs.db. Some model parameters and settings, such as country concordance tables, can also be found under the same file. You can find more information about tables in the IFs.db here.

Data Collection & Update

IFs databases are compiled, in most cases, from publicly available data sources, e.g., World Development Indicators, UNESCO Institute for Education database on education, FAO database on agricultural production, Correlates of War data on conflicts etc. When needed, new series will be added to the databases, while existing ones are updated by data sources on a regular basis.

Introductions on data collection can be traced using the list of data sources here.