Creating An EViews Workfile From the DRI DATABASE

Transcription

1 Nicholas R. Noble Creating An EViews Workfile From the DRI DATABASE

2 Creating a Basic EViews Workfile. 1. Start EViews,and from the FILE MENU, choose (see Figure 1) NEW and then choose WORKFILE. Figure 1 2. Fill in the Box. (see Figure 2) You must choose the frequency of the data. This determines the frequency of the data in the file created by EViews. If the data is reported in a different frequency, EViews will convert the data to the frequency that you choose. 3. List the starting date and ending date. EViews uses a format for annual data of 1960 (or 60 - use 1960 if you will be updating the data and are worried about the year 2000 problems). For monthly data use YYYY.MM or (or ) for January 1979, and for December Click on OK when the form is finished. Figure 2-1 -

3 5. In the section for the WORKFILE, choose (see Figure 3) PROC then choose DRI Basic Economics Database Figure 3 6. In the box, enter the DRI names of the variables that you wish. (Figure 4) Then Click OK. Note: Step 5 and 6 can be used to add data to an existing EViews Workfile. DRI Names can be found in DRI Manual Figure 4 Hint: Suppose that you wish to create a dataset with a large number of variables. Use a program like NOTEPAD, and type in the list of names. Save the file so that you have a record of the variables that were used. Then Highlight the list, use copy [CTRL-C]. Then follow steps 1-5, then paste the names [CTRL-V] into the EViews box in step 6, Figure

4 7. (Optional) Some DRI names are not easy to use and remember. EViews will rename variables with the RENAME command. (Figure 5) The form of the command is RENAME old name new name Figure 5 7. Save the Data. On the WORKFILE, (Figure 6) Choose SAVE then enter a name for the file. Figure 6-3 -

5 The Method of Converting Monthly to Quarterly (or Annual) Data. EViews, by default converts data reported as monthly into quarterly data by averaging the monthly values. Several other options are available. To use these options, after step 4 above, 1. Choose OPTIONS (Figure 7) Then choose DATES-FREQUENCY Figure 7 2. Choose the method of converting the monthly data to quarterly. This would also determine the method of converting quarterly data to annual data.(figure 8) 3. Click on OK 4. Return to step 5 above. (Page 2) Figure 8-4 -

6 Exporting Data to Other Programs DRI data can be used in programs other than EViews. The best method of transferring data from DRI to Other software is via EViews Exporting options. Data can be exported to a text file (.txt), Lotus file (..wk1 or.wk3) or and Excel file (.xls) To do this, 1. open the EViews Workfile, and from the FILE menu, Choose (Figure 9) EXPORT then choose WRITE TEXT-LOTUS-EXCEL Figure 9 2. Give the Export file a name. EViews will provide an extension from the choice box, and create the appropriate type file. (Figure 10) Choose a file name Choose the type of file, from the SAVE FILE AS choice box. Figure

7 3. Fill in the box with the EViews Variable names. (Figure 11) Figure 11 4: The Upper-Left-Data Cell box (see figure 10) determines where EViews writes data in the created file. The Default adds dates down the side, and variable names across the top. The resulting file (see Figure 12) can be used in other programs RATS, PowerPoint, etc. Figure