Economic Variables. 1. We will search for GDP for Ghana. To begin, open Excel

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1 Economic Variables Before you start: please work through the guide Logging on and getting started with Datastream. It would also be helpful if you have used our guide for Company/Equity Data as this outlines some of the generic steps in more detail than this guide. 1. We will search for GDP for Ghana. To begin, open Excel 2. Click on Datastream tab> Time Series Request. The following box will appear: 3. To find the variable you are interested in, click on Find Series button. This will open the Datastream Navigator (see below). The Navigator is used to find Datastream codes (called symbols in the economics part of the database). 4. Click on the X button in the Search Box to clear any previous search. Then Click on choose a single category where you can choose economics (Note that the default Data Category is Equities.)

2 5. Type gdp into the search box and click Search. You will see the first ten results matching your search. If the variable you are looking for is not displayed, use the Market section to choose your country. Here we have clicked on More to display further options. Click on Ghana. If necessary, refine your search further by Source, Frequency or Adjustment. When you click on a variable, more detailed information is displayed below, including the timespan and source of the data. Further information can be displayed in the editable chart. This will help you to decide which variable to use. 2

3 6. Tick the box next to the symbol (code) for your chosen variable ( GHGDP... in this case) as shown below and click on use. This will return you to the Time Series Request box and place the code in the Series/Lists box. Note that the code has three dots after the letters: this is part of the code and should not be removed. Repeat to find other variables, if you wish. 7. In the Frequency box, use the drop down list to choose the frequency of the data, i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. In this example, we will choose yearly because the data is annual. Note: not all data types are available for all frequencies, so you may need to try different options and check the frequency of the data as shown in the Navigator. 3

4 8. Choose the time period you are interested in by entering a Start Date and End Date in the format dd/mm/yy. Alternatively you can enter a Start Date number of days (D), weeks (W), months (M), quarters (Q), or years (Y) ago from today, e.g. -3D means start three days ago from today -10Y means start ten years ago from today (note: you must use upper case letters) 9. In the Options section, put a tick against: Display Row Titles Display Column Titles Display Headings Display Currency Embed Visible button IMPORTANT: Do NOT tick Auto Refresh. (This will link your Excel spreadsheet to Datastream and wipe out your data when you use a different computer.) 10. Click Submit to run your request. Data will be downloaded into Excel. Remember to save the spreadsheet to your memory stick or H:drive. Your data should look like this: Note: data will be downloaded into the Excel cell that you are clicked in when you open the Time Series Request box. 4

5 Finding GDP data for additional countries If you want to download more data (for example the GDP of Chile) you can return to your search and add this to your time series request. If you want to look for new variables, it might be best to open a new Sheet or Workbook in Excel. a/ If you want to add to or amend your search, you can use the visible button that is embedded in your spreadsheet. By default it is entitled refresh, but if you right click on this you get the option to choose editor as shown here. Choosing editor will return you to the time series search box. Click on to return to the Navigator. b/ Click on stop filtering to remove the filters (for Ghana) from the last search. c/ Click on more and then select Chile from the list that appears. 5

6 d/ Tick in the box next to the symbol (code) for your chosen variable (CLGDP D in this case) as shown below and click on use. e/ This will return you to the Time Series Request box and place the code in the Series/List box. F/ In the frequency box choose yearly. Even though the Chile GDP data is available quarterly, we need to select yearly because we are adding this variable to a search which includes only annual data from Ghana. g/ Click on submit to run your search. Your results should look something like this: Remember to save your work to your memory stick or H:drive. When you have finished in Datastream, please log off by choosing file and exit. [HJR/JMH Feb N.B. some content courtesy of Adam Hill/ Harry Gibbs, Southampton University Library 2012] 6