Society Intelligence Newsletter #1

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Welcome to our newsletter on everything related to impact data.

In this newsletter we will cover:

  • Interesting variable: What means “at risk of poverty and social exclusion”
  • Interesting tool: The Energy and Industry Geography Lab
  • Interesting read: “Beyond Bloomberg: The Invisible Curve of Power”
  • Interesting dataset: Dogs in Vienna over time

Interesting variable: “At risk of poverty and social exclusion”

The term “at risk of poverty or social exclusion” describes a key indicator to measure living conditions and identify vulnerable populations. It includes individuals who face significant economic and social challenges, including those with low income, severe material and social deprivation, or very low household work intensity.

It is calculated by combining three distinct indicators.

  • First, it includes individuals whose equivalized disposable income falls below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, set at 60% of the national median income.
  • Second, it accounts for those suffering from severe material and social deprivation, defined by an inability to afford at least seven out of thirteen essential items or activities.
  • Finally, it covers individuals aged under 65 living in households where adults worked less than 20% of their potential work time in the past year.

Understanding this indicator is critical for shaping effective policies to address poverty and social exclusion. This indicator is also central to tracking the EU’s efforts to improve social inclusion and reduce poverty levels, as outlined in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.

The map below shows the indicator using the numbers from the Eurostat database for NUTS 2 region and visualizing it with QGIS.

Interesting tool: Energy and Industry Geography Lab

The Energy and Industry Geography Lab (EIGL), developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, is a geospatial data hub focused on energy and industry. It offers a visual representation of consolidated data to support Member States and the wider audience.

For example, if you are interested to see where the European oil refineries are located you can just click the relevant box.

It is a fascinating tool with many interesting insights such as the one below. The density and connectivity of the European electricity network shows which gaps need to be closed in the future.

Interesting read: “Beyond Bloomberg: The Invisible Curve of Power”

There was this very interesting blog post on Substack “Beyond Bloomberg: The Invisible Curve of Power” on financial data.

Our world is built on data, and this blog post looks into the financial data’s value chain including companies such as CME Group, FactSet and MSCI that represent distinct stages of data production, distribution and activation. Each stage adds value, with CME producing raw financial data as a byproduct of its trading activities, FactSet organizing and standardizing data for accessibility, and MSCI creating proprietary insights through indices.

These stages form an “invisible curve” that disproportionately allocates value to production and activation, while the middle, represented by distribution, sees constrained value capture due to high labor and capital costs.

The post also explores the economics and constraints of each stage, highlighting the natural monopolies of data producers, the process-intensive role of distributors, and the scalable intellectual property advantages of activators.

Check it out. It’s an interesting read.

Interesting dataset: Dogs in Vienna

We are big fans of open government data and there is such interesting data to explore. The City of Vienna has published a dataset about the number of dogs in the city.

Take a moment to consider how many dogs there can be.

In 2002, there were 47.000 dogs across the city which is equivalent to 29.87 dogs per 1,000 inhabitants. There were variations across the city with some central areas only having 20 dogs per 1,000 inhabitants, while others had even more than 40 dogs per 1,000 inhabiants .

In 2024, there 58,000 dogs but the relative number has barely moved with 29.34 dogs per 1,000 inhabitants.

Check out the dataset.

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