Worksheet – Case #9 – Creating a category scatter chart

Finding Data

In this case, you need to add 2 series – Deficit and Debt as % of GDP from Eurostat - for 11 Euro Area countries.

To make it easier and efficient, you can start by these two series for one country, let’s say Austria. While you can go to the Eurostat database, a more user-friendly way would be to go to the “Concept & Category” database as the tree is simplified

Go to:

Concept & Category > Government & Public Finance > Eurostat > General Government

Locate and add Austria in the subsections “Debt/GDP” and “Net Lending/Borrowing (Percent of GDP)”.

Using Change Region in Series List

Now, you can use the Change Region feature in Series List to duplicate these two series for multiple countries:

  • go to Series list
  • Highlight both series for Austria
  • Right-click on them and select “Change region and duplicate”
  • In the new window, select a new country and click on “add”
  • Once you’ve added all the country you need, click on close.

Analysis

Scalar

To create this scatter category chart, you will need to use the scalar analysis:

  • From Series List, click on “Add” and then select Scalar
  • In Scalar, change “One series per calculations” to “Partition into” and keep 2 series
    • This setting will create two category series, one for Debt/GDP, the other for Deficit/GDP
  • Under Calculations, add “Last common”

You can change the name of the Category series by modifying the text in the “Output Series” box. The first text block is for the series 1. Verify the number it refers to in the “input series” box > column Group.

Finally, add a Category scatter chart from the Analysis tree.

Charting

Changing series lines to dots

By default, all series are displayed as lines connecting the values. You can change this by clicking on a line and go into the Presentation properties tab. Then:

  • Switch to “Custom” in Graph style
  • Change Line from “2px” to “None”
  • Change Marker type from “None” to “8px”
  • Modify color and style of marker to your preference

Choosing which series is displayed on which axis

You can decide which series should be in the X and Y axes.

  • Go to Graph Layout
  • The pair of series listed in the Pane is in a specific order:
    • The first series is put on the X-axis
    • The second series will be located on the Y-axis
  • You can drag and drop series to change the order

Horizontal and vertical lines

To add lines at specific values, go to the Chart annotations tab. Select “horizontal line” and place it in the chart.  Set the position to -3 if you have the Deficit / GDP on the Y-axis.

Now do the same for the vertical line but change the Position to 60 (assuming the Debt / GDP is on the X-axis)

Other Changes

  • Title: Euro Area: Maastricht Convergence Criteria
  • Subtitle: Maastricht Criteria: Debt/GDP = 60% & Deficit/GDP = 3%
  • "Main scale” has been set to “left”
  • Axis titles for Y- and X-axis have been set to “Graph text” from the Dynamic properties tab