multiple plots in same figure with one axis via python matplotlib

Question

I'm trying to plot one diagram of both cyclical components(gdp and hoursworked) using HP-filters and matplotlib in python. Currently only getting one figure to plot and other figure is flatline(HoursWorked is flatlined) (Image below). Any pointers on how to improve code.

import statsmodels.api as sm
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
pandas_datareader import data
import datetime as dt

start, end = dt.datetime(1965, 1, 1), dt.datetime(2016,12, 31)

gdp = data.DataReader('GDPC1', 'fred', start, end)
HoursWorked = data.DataReader('PRSCQ', 'fred', start, end)

plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(211)
plt.plot(gdp)

plt.title('RealGDP and Hours Worked')
cycle, trend = sm.tsa.filters.hpfilter(gdp, 1600)

plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(211)
plt.plot(HoursWorked)
ax = plt.gca()
ax.set_xticklabels([])

plt.show()

[ enter image description here 2

What does HoursWorked look like? It could be that your y axis has scaled in order to encompass all the data for gdp and therefore HoursWorked just looks like a flat line. You could try just plotting HoursWorked on its own to see? — DavidG
– DavidG, Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 8:08
@davidG attached an image for HoursWorked. That could very much be the reason. However I need them on one graph to view trend, is it possible to scale up to accommodate data points. Im fairly new to matplotlib and python as a whole — pyt
– pyt, Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 8:28

ImportanceOfBeingErnest · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-03 08:48:21Z

2

I think you would want to use a twin axes. I.e. you want two axes which sit on top ofeach other and share the same x scale, but have a different y scale. This can be done with the following code:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas_datareader.data 
import datetime as dt

start, end = dt.datetime(1965, 1, 1), dt.datetime(2016,12, 31)

gdp = pandas_datareader.data.DataReader('GDPC1', 'fred', start, end)
HoursWorked = pandas_datareader.data.DataReader('PRSCQ', 'fred', start, end)

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax2 = ax.twinx()
ax.plot(gdp, label="GDP")
ax2.plot(HoursWorked, color="C2", label="HoursWorked")

ax.set_title('RealGDP and Hours Worked')

ax.legend(loc=2)
ax2.legend(loc=4)
plt.show()

answered Apr 3, 2017 at 8:48

ImportanceOfBeingErnest

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1 Comment

gekaklam Over a year ago

Any chance you also know how to have only one caption?

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