eiu
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This data room contains one of the two datasets for the Best City in the World Contest 2012 -- the Worldwide Cost of Living Index.
The Data Preview tab shows a preview of the dataset.
The dataset contains one worksheet that enlists the products and services used in the index, along with the price for the each of the 140 cities.
The Attachments tab contains a full overview of the Cost of Living Index.
The Visualization tab contains a video to guide you through the submission process.
The dataset can be downloaded by clicking the button the right side of the page.
The dollar rates given in the first price feed were calculated using 'harmonised' exchange rates. This is fine for many cities but applying such a rate can have a skewing impact where countries have redenominated currencies or where significant currency fluctuation has take place. This means that applying harmonised rates throws out a few cities in USD terms.
As a result I've decided to introduce a 2nd dataset using the exchange rates from the time of the price survey - I've also included these exchange rates for entrants in case they'd like to add an exchange rate element to allow for recalculations of the dataset.
So now entrants have the choice between using data that utilises harmonised and snap exchange rates
Summary
The Worldwide Cost of Living Index* is the result of a biannual Economist Intelligence Unit survey that compares over 400 individual prices across 160 products and services in 140 cities in 93 countries. The survey itself is a purpose-built internet tool designed to calculate cost-of-living allowances and build compensation packages for expatriates and business travellers. It incorporates easy-to-understand comparative cost-of-living indices between cities. The online interactive survey allows for city-to-city comparisons, but for the purpose of this report all cities are compared to a base city - New York - which has an index set at 100.
Prices reflect costs for more than 160 items—from food, toiletries and clothing to domestic help, transport and utility bills—in each city. These are not recommended retail prices or manufacturers’ costs; they are prices at the point of sale.
Prices gathered are then converted into a central currency (US Dollars) using a prevailing exchange rate and weighted in order to achieve comparative indices. The cost-of-living index uses an identical set of weights which is internationally based and not geared towards the spending pattern of any specific nationality.
The full overview can be found here.
Creating a new liveability index (as part of the EIU / BuzzData "Best City in the World" Contest)
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@reboulet see @joncopestake's comment ^ above ...
ed_locke
Hi - I've added details of this revision in the "about the dataset" section but here is the logic behind the revised dataset
The dollar rates given in the first price feed were calculated using 'harmonised' exchange rates. This is fine for many cities but applying such a rate can have a skewing impact where countries have redenominated currencies or where significant currency fluctuation has take place. This means that applying harmonised rates throws out a few cities in USD terms.
As a result I've decided to introduce a 2nd dataset using the exchange rates from the time of the price survey - I've also included these exchange rates for entrants in case they'd like to add an exchange rate element to allow for recalculations of the dataset.
So now entrants have the choice between using data that utilises harmonised and snap exchange rates