OEC R Package - Complete User Guide

Introduction

oec is an Observatory of Economic Complexity API wrapper and utility program. Since v1.0 its available on CRAN.

Data sources

All of the product data shown on the site is classified using either SITC (Standard International Trade Classification) or HS (Harmonized System).

For historical SITC classification data (1962 - 2000), we use data from The Center for International Data from Robert Feenstra. For more recent data (2001 - 2016), we use data provided by UN Comtrade.

How to use the package?

The easiest way to use this package, and R in general, is to use RStudio IDE that allows users to create projects that do not depend on absolute paths.

The package is fully documented here. In this vignette we provide some examples that do not replace the documentation.

Functions

The package’s function can be divided between functions to import data and functions to visualize data. Visualization functions depend on data importing functions.

You can call treemap() or network() without calling data importing functions first. The package will automatically download or read the data needed to visualize.

Here is a general description of the functions:

Basic use

# 0: Install the package

# 0.1: Install from CRAN (recommended)
install.packages("oec")

# 0.2 Install from Github
#install.packages("devtools") ## if needed
library(devtools)
install_github("pachamaltese/oec/r_package")

# 1: Initialize the package

# 1.1: Load the package
library(oec)

# 1.2: Explore the countries list if you are not sure about the countries codes
countries_list

# 1.3: Copy the demo script to your working directory (same examples as this document)
demos()

Treemap functions

# treemap() examples

# 2.1: What does Chile export to China? (2015) (HS92 4 characters)
treemap("chl", "chn", "exports", 2015)
treemap("chl", "chn", "exports", 2015, 1) # equivalent to last command

# treemap_interval() examples

# 3.1: What does Chile export to China? (2010-2015) (HS92 4 characters)
treemap_interval("chl", "chn", "exports", 2010, 2015)
treemap_interval("chl", "chn", "exports", 2010, 2014, 1, 1, 1) # equivalent to last command

Network functions

# network() examples

# 4.1: What are the export opportunities of Chile? (2014, trade with China) (HS92 4 characters)
network("chl", "chn", 2015)
network("chl", "chn", 2015, 1) # equivalent to last command

# network_interval() examples

# 5.1: What are the export opportunities of Chile? (2010-2015, trade with China) (HS92 4 characters)
network_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2015)
network_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2015, 1, 1) # equivalent to last command

Getdata functions

# getdata() examples

# 6.1: Download trade between Chile and China in the year 2014 from OEC's API (HS92 4 characters)
getdata("chl", "chn", 2015)
getdata("chl", "chn", 2015, 1) # equivalent to last command

# 6.2: Download trade between Chile and China in the year 2014 from OEC's API (SITC rev2 4 characters)
getdata("chl", "chn", 2015, 2)

# 6.3: Download trade between Chile and China in the year 2014 from from OEC's API (HS92 6 characters)
getdata("chl", "chn", 2015, 3)

# getdata_interval() examples

# 7.1: Download trade between Chile and China in the years 2010-2015 from OEC's API (HS92 4 characters)
getdata_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2015)
getdata_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2015, 1, 1) # equivalent to last command

# 7.1: Download trade between Chile and China in the years 2010, 2012 and 2014 from OEC's API (HS92 4 characters)
getdata_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2014, 1, 2)

# 7.2: Download trade between Chile and China in the years 2010, 2012 and 2014 from OEC's API (SITC rev2 4 characters)
getdata_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2014, 2, 2)

# 7.3: Download trade between Chile and China in the years 2010, 2012 and 2014 from OEC's API (HS92 6 characters)
getdata_interval("chl", "chn", 2010, 2014, 3, 2)