Eviews - Introduction

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Introduction to the use of

Statistical and

Econometric Software

School of Statistics

University of the Philippines Diliman

What is EViews?

EViews provides sophisticated data analysis, regression, and forecasting tools on Windows-based computers.

Areas where EViews can be useful: Scientific data analysis and evaluation;

Financial analysis;

Macroeconomic forecasting;

Simulation;

Sales forecasting; and,

Cost analysis.

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The EViews window

Title bar

•When you launch the program, you will see the EViews window.

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The EViews window

Main

menu

Drop-

down

menu

•Selecting an item from

the menu will open a

drop-down menu

containing additional

commands.

•A grayed-out

command means the

command is not

currently available.

•An ellipse (…)

following the command

means that a dialog

box (prompting you for

additional input) will

appear before the

command is executed. 4

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The EViews window

Main

menu

Drop-

down

menu

•A right-triangle (►)

means that additional

(cascading) menus will

appear if you select this

item.

•A check mark ()

indicates that the

option listed in the

menu is currently in

effect.

•Most menu items

contain underlined

characters representing

keyboard shortcuts

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The EViews window

Command

window

•EViews commands

may be typed in the

command window.

•The command is

executed as soon as

you hit enter.

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The EViews window

Work

area

•The area in the middle

of the window is the

work area where

EViews will display the

various object windows

that it creates.

•Only the active

window has a darkened

titlebar.

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The EViews window

Status line

•The status line

contains messages

sent to you by EViews,

the default directory,

name of the default

database, and name of

the active workfile.

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EViews 2. Workfile Basics

What is a workfile?

Most of the work in EViews will involve

objects that are contained in a workfile, so

the first step in any project will be to create

a new workfile or to load an existing

workfile into memory.

Workfiles hold a variety of EViews objects,

such as equations, graphs, and matrices.

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What is a workfile?

Workfiles’ primary purpose is to hold the contents of datasets.

A dataset is defined as a data rectangle, consisting of a set of observations on one or more variables.

Each observation in the dataset has a unique identifier or ID. IDs contain important information about the observation, such as a date, a name, or an identifying code.

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Creating a workfile

Ways to create a workfile:

1. Describing the structure of the workfile;

employed if data will be entered into EViews by

typing or copy-and-pasting data.

2. Opening and reading data from a foreign

data source.

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Creating a workfile by describing its

structure

To create a new

workfile,

STEP 1: Select

File/New/Workfile…

from the main menu

to open the Workfile

Create dialog.

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structure

STEP 2: Select the appropriate workfile structure type:

1. Unstructured/ Undated: For cross section data

Prompt: number of observations

2. Dated-regular frequency: For time series data

Prompts: 1. Frequency (Annual, Semi-annual, Quarterly, Monthly, Weekly,

Daily-5 day week, Daily-7 day week)

2. Start date

3. End date

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structure

3. Balanced Panel:

For panel data

Prompts:

1. Frequency (Annual, Semi-annual, Quarterly, Monthly,

Weekly, Daily-5 day week, Daily-7 day week)

2. Start date

3. End date

4. Number of cross sections

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structure

STEP 3: Click OK. The Workfile window

containing c and resid will pop up.

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Creating a workfile by reading from

a foreign data source

STEP 1: Select File/Open/Foreign Data as Workfile… to bring up the standard file Open dialog.

STEP 2: Click the Files of type combo box and select from the list of the file types that EViews supports (Excel, SAS, SPSS, Stata, Text, etc…)

STEP 3: Select your file and click OPEN.

Note: A simple alternative to opening the file from the menu is to drag-and-drop your foreign file into the EViews window.

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Importing data

Entering data

For small datasets in printed form, you may wish

to enter the data by typing at the keyboard.

STEP 1: To open a temporary spreadsheet

window in which you will enter the data, choose

Quick/Empty Group (Edit Series) from the main

menu.

STEP 2: Do the following steps:

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Importing data

Entering data

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Importing data

Entering data

STEP 3: If you are done typing the data,

name the untitled group by clicking the

Name button.

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Importing data

Copy-and-pasting

Useful for small datasets and other software applications (ex. Excel)

STEP 1: Highlight and copy the cells (including the variable headings/names) to be imported into EViews.

STEP 2: In EViews, create or load a workfile and choose Quick/Empty Group (Edit Series) from the main menu.

STEP 3: Place the cursor and click the upper-left cell just to the right of the second obs label.

STEP 4: Select Edit/Paste from the main menu (or simply use the right mouse click to paste).

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Importing data

Importing data from a spreadsheet or text file

STEP 1: Make sure you have an open workfile and that the workfile window is active.

STEP 2: Click on Proc/Import/Read Text-Lotus-Excel… You will see a standard File Open dialog box. Select a file type and file name.

STEP 3: Click OK. EViews fill open a dialog prompting you for additional information about the import procedure.

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Importing data


(spreadsheet import)

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Importing data


(ASCII text files import)

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The workfile window:

Title bar •In the title bar you

will see the “workfile”

designation followed

by the workfile name.

•If the workfile has

been saved to disk,

you will see the

name and the full

disk path.

•Here, the name of

the workfile is

“HPRICE”.

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Button bar •The button bar

provides you with

easy access to

useful workfile

operations.

•Note that the

buttons are simply

shortcuts to items

that may be

accessed from the

main EViews menu..

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Workfile range

and structure

•Just click “range” to

structure or resize

your workfile.

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Current

sample

•The “sample”

displays the range of

observations that are

to be used in

calculations and

statistical operations.

•Just click “sample”

to change the range

of observations you

want to use.

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Workfile

directory

Click to scroll

page tabs

•The main portion of

the window is the

workfile directory

where you will see

the contents (which

are called “objects”)

of your workfile page.

Click here to create a

new workfile page Workfile page tabs (click to

set active page) 29


Current filter

(click to

change)

•When working with

workfiles containing

a large number of

objects, you may use

“filter” to instruct

EViews to display

only a subset of

objects in the

workfile window.

•Just click “filter” to

choose which objects

to display.

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Saving a workfile

To save your workfile, push the SAVE

button on the workfile toolbar.

You can also save a file using the

File/Save As… or File/Save… choices

from the main menu.

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Workfile save options

When you click on the SAVE button, EViews will display a dialog showing the current global default options for storing data in your workfile.

Single vs. Double precision

Single precision will create smaller files on disk, but saves the data with fewer digits of accuracy (7 versus 16).

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Workfile save options

Use compression

Choosing this option will reduce the size of the workfile on the disk.

A compressed workfile, however, will not be readable by versions of EViews prior to 5.0.

Prompt on each save

Unchecking this option instructs EViews to hide this dialog on subsequent saves.

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Example on Creating a Workfile

Create an Eviews workfile from the Excel

file WAGE.XLS (cross section data)

Create an Eviews workfile from the Excel

file EXPORT.XLS (time series data)

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EViews 3. Object Basics

What is an object?

Information in EViews is stored in objects.

Each object consists of a collection of information related to a particular area of analysis.

Associated with each type of object is a set of views and procedures which can be used with the information contained in the object.

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What is an object?

OBJECTS

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Object types

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Most common object types

SERIES

A collection of information related to a set of observations on a particular variable;

Contain mostly numeric information;

Has a spreadsheet view, which shows the raw data, a line graph view, distributional plots, etc…;

It also allows you to compute simple hypothesis tests and statistics for various subgroups.

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Most common object types

EQUATION

A collection of information related to the

relationship between a collection of variables;

Contain complete information about the

specification of the equation, the estimation

results, as well as references to the underlying

data used to construct the estimates;

Has a representation view showing he

equation specification, an actual-fitted-residual

view containing plots of fitted values and

residuals, etc…

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Basic object operations

Creating objects STEP 1: First make certain

that you have an open workfile.

STEP 2: Select Object/New Object… from the main menu. You will then see the New Object dialog box.

STEP 3: Click on the type of object you want, optionally provide a name for the object, and then click OK.

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Selecting and opening objects

The easiest way to select objects is to point-and-click

(for selecting multiple objects, hold the control button

while clicking the objects).

Another way of selecting objects is clicking the View

button in the workfile toolbar.

Keep in mind that if you are selecting a large number

of items, you may find it useful to use the display filter

before beginning to select items.

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Selecting and opening objects

To open an object window, double click on the

selected object.

If you select multiple graphs or series and

double click, a pop-up menu appears giving

you an option of opening new objects (group,

equation, VAR, graph) or displaying each of

the selected objects in its own window.

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The object window

Object windows are the windows that are

displayed when you open an object or object

container.

An object’s window will contain either a view of

the object, or the results of an object procedure.

One of the more important features of EViews is

that you can display object windows for a

number of items at the same time.

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The object window example: the equation window

Main menu

Workfile titlebar

(inactive)

Workfile

window

Equation titlebar

(active)

Equation

window toolbar

Equation

window

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The object window Buttons found on all object toolbars

View Lets you change the view that is displayed in the

object window; the available choices will differ, depending upon the object type.

Proc Provides access to a menu of procedures that are

available for the object.

Object Lets you manage your objects; you can store the

object on disk, name, delete, copy, or print the object.

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The object window Buttons found on all object toolbars

Print

Lets you print the current view of the object (the window contents).

Name

Allows you to name or rename the object.

Freeze

Creates a new object graph, table, or text object out of the current view.

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Working with objects

Naming objects You must name an object if you wish to keep its results.

If you do not name an object, it will be called “UNTITLED”. Unnamed objects are not saved with the workfile, so they are deleted when the workfile is closed and removed from memory.

When you give an object a name, the name will appear in the directory of the workfile, and the object will be saved as part of the workfile when the workfile is saved.

The following names are reserved and cannot be used as object names: ABS, ACOS, AND, AR, ASIN, C, CON, CNORM, COEF, COS, D, DLOG, DNORM, ELSE, ENDIF, EXP, LOG, LOGIT, LPT1, LPT2, MA, NA, NOT, NRND, OR, PDL, RESID, RND, SAR, SIN, SMA, SQR, and THEN.

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Naming objects

STEP 1: Open the object

window.

STEP 2: Click the Name

button and the Object

Name window will appear.

STEP 3: Enter the name,

and optionally, a display

name to be used when

labeling the object tables

and graphs.

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Labeling objects

EViews objects have label fields where you

can provide extended annotation and

commentary.

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Labeling objects

STEP 1: Open the object

window.

STEP 2: Click the View

button and the click Label.

STEP 3: You can edit any

of the fields, except the Last

Update field. Simply click in

the field cell that you want

to edit.

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Copy-and-pasting objects

Copying an object means EViews will create a new untitled object containing an exact copy of the original object.

The new object duplicates all features of the original except for the name.

When two workfiles are in memory at the same time, you may copy objects between them using copy-and-paste.

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Copy-and-pasting objects STEP 1: Highlight the objects you want to copy in the

source workfile.

STEP 2: Select Edit/Copy from the main menu (right clicking the object also works).

STEP 3: Select the destination workfile by clicking on its titlebar.

STEp 4: Select either Edit/Paste or Edit/Paste Special… from the main menu (or simply Paste or Paste Special… following a right mouse click).

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Freezing objects The second method of copying information from an

object is to freeze a view of the object.

If you click Object/Freeze Output or press the Freeze button on the object’s toolbar, a table or graph object is created that duplicates the current view of the original object.

The primary feature of freezing an object is that the tables and graphs created by freezing may be edited for presentations or reports.

Frozen views do not change when the workfile sample or data change.

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Deleting objects

STEP 1: To delete an object or objects from

your workfile, select the object/s in the

workfile directory.

STEP 2: Click Delete or Object/Delete

Selected on the workfile toolbar.

EViews will prompt you to make certain that

you wish to delete the objects.

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Printing objects

To print the currently displayed

view of an object, push the

Print button on the object

window toolbar.

You can also choose File/Print

or Object/Print on the main

EViews menu bar.

EViews will open a Print dialog

containing the default print

settings for the type of output

you are printing.

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EViews 4. Basic Data Handling

Basic data handling

The process of entering, reading, editing, manipulating, and generating data forms the foundation of most data analyses.

EViews provides you with a sophisticated set of data manipulation tools that make the task as simple and straightforward as possible.

There are three cornerstones of data handling in EViews: the two most common data objects, series and groups, and the use of samples which define the set of observations in the workfile that we wish to use in analysis.

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Data objects

The actual numeric values that make up your data will generally be held in one or more of EViews’ data objects.

For most users, series and groups will by far be the most important objects, so they will be the primary focus of our discussion.

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Series

An EViews series contains a set of observations on a

numeric variable.

For series in dated workfiles, the observations are

presumed to be observed regularly over time.

For undated data, the observations are not assumed to

follow any particular frequency.

Note that series object may only be used to hold

numeric data. If you wish to work with alphanumeric

data, you should employ alpha series.

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Series

Creating a series

STEP 1: In the main menu,

select Object/New Object…

STEP 2: Select Series. You

may, at this time, provide a

name for the series.

STEP 3: Click OK. EViews

will open a spreadsheet

view of the new series

object.

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Series

Creating a series

You may also create the numeric or alpha series by

entering a series or alpha command of the form:

series series_name = series_expr

alpha alpha_name = alpha_expr

If you leave out the right-hand side assignment portion

of the commands, the series or alpha will be initialized

to missing values (NA and blank strings, respectively).

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Series

Changing the spreadsheet display

Column widths

To resize the width of a column, simply move

your mouse over the column separator until

the icon changes, then drag the column to its

desired width.

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Series

Changing the spreadsheet

display

Display type

The series display type, which is

listed in the combo box in the

series toolbar, determines how the

series spreadsheet window shows

your data.

Changing the display of your series

values does not alter the underlying

values in the series, it only modifies

the values shown in the

spreadsheet.

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Series

Changing the spreadsheet

display

Display formats

You may customize the way

that numbers or characters in

your series are displayed in the

spreadsheet by setting the

series display properties.

To display the dialog, click on

Properties in the series toolbar.

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Series


Narrow versus Wide

The narrow display displays the observations for the

series in a single column, with date labels in the

margin. The typical series spreadsheet display will

use this display format.

The wide display arranges the observations from left

to right and top to bottom, with the label for the first

observation in the row displayed in the margin.

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Series


Narrow versus Wide

Wide display

For dated workfiles, EViews will, if possible,

arrange the data in a form which matches the

frequency of the data. (Semi-annual data will be

displayed with 2 observations per row, quarterly

data will contain 4 observations per row, etc…)

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Series

Changing the

spreadsheet display

Narrow versus Wide

To change the display

to show the

observations in your

series in multiple

columns by clicking on

the Wide +/- button on

the spreadsheet view

toolbar. 68

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Series


Sample subset display By default, all observations in the workfile are

displayed, even those observations not in the current sample.

By pressing Smpl +/- you can toggle between showing all observation in the workfile, and showing only those observation included in the current sample.

Note that if you switch to wide display, EViews automatically turns off the display filter so that all observations in the workfile are displayed.

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Series

Editing a series

STEP 1: Open the spreadsheet view of the series.

STEP 2: Make certain that the spreadsheet window is in edit mode. Use the Edit +/- button on the toolbar to toggle between edit mode and protected mode.

STEP 3: To change a value for an observation, select the cell, type in the value, and press ENTER.

Note: When editing series values, you should pay particular attention to the series display format, which tells you the units in which your series are displayed.

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Series

Editing a series

STEP 4: When you have finished editing,

you should protect yourself from

inadvertently changing values of your data

by clicking on Edit +/- to turn off edit mode.

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Series

Inserting and deleting observations in a series

STEP 1: Open the spreadsheet view of the series and make certain that the spreadsheet window is in edit mode.

STEP 2: Click on the cell where you want the new observation to appear.

STEP 3: Right click and select InsDel. You will see a dialog asking how many observations you wish to insert or delete at the current position and whether you wish to insert observations in the selected series or in all of the series in the group.

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Series

Sorting a series

From the spreadsheet view of a series,

you can sort by pressing the Sort button

on the button bar or by pressing the right-

mouse button and selecting Sort.

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Groups

When working with multiple series, you will often want to create a group object to help you manage your data.

A group is a list of series names that provides simultaneous access to all of the elements in the list.

A set of variables may be analyzed, graphed, or printed using the group object, rather than each one of the individual series.

Once a group is defined, you can use the group name in many places to refer to all of the series contained in the group.

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Groups

Creating groups

STEP 1: In the main menu, select Object/New Object…

STEP 2: Select Group. You may, at this time, provide a name for the group.

STEP 3: Enter the names of the series to be included in the group, separated by spaces.

Note that a group may be included to be a part of a group. Series expressions (mathematical expressions that may involve one or more series) may also be added in a group.

STEP 4: Click OK. A group window will open showing a spreadsheet view of the group.

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Groups

Creating groups

Alternatively, you can also create groups

by:

Selecting Show from the workfile toolbar and

fill out the dialog; or

Using the command window and type:

group group_name series_names

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Groups

Editing in a group

STEP 1: Open the group window and make certain that the group spreadsheet is in protected mode.

STEP 2: To change a value for an observation, select the cell, type in the value, and press ENTER.

Note: Since groups are simply references to series, editing the series within a group changes the values in the original series.

Note: As with series spreadsheet views, you may click Smpl +/- to toggle between showing all the observations in the workfile and showing only those observations in the current sample.

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Samples

The sample is the set (often a subset) of observations in the workfile to be included in the data display and in performing statistical procedures.

Samples may be specified using ranges of observations (usually for time series) and “if conditions” that observations must satisfy to be included.

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Samples

The workfile sample

When you create a workfile, the workfile sample or global sample is set initially to be the entire range of the workfile.

It tells EViews what set of observations you wish to use for subsequent operations.

You can always determine the current workfile sample of observations by looking at the top of your workfile window.

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Samples

Changing the sample

There are 4 ways to set the workfile sample:

Clicking the Sample button in the workfile toolbar;

Double-clicking the sample string display in the

workfile window;

Selecting Proc/Set Sample… from the main workfile

menu;

Entering a smpl command.

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Samples

Changing the sample

If you use one of the first 3

options, EViews will open the

Sample dialog box.

From the Sample dialog, you will

be asked to specify a range

and/or an “if condition”.

In the example, typing 1 50 as the

sample range pair means that

observations 1 to 50 will be your

sample while observations 51

and above will excluded. 81

Samples

Changing the sample

EViews provides special keywords that

may make entering sample date pairs

easier.

@all – the entire workfile range;

@first – first observation;

@last – last observation.

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Samples

Changing the sample

In the box for specifying the “if conditions”, operators may be used to allow for the construction of more complex expressions.

Operators include (but are not limited to): Expression Operator

+ add

- subtract

* multiply

/ divide

^ raise to the power

> greater than

< less than

= equal to

<> not equal to

<= less than or equal to

>= greater than or equal to

and logical and

or logical or 83

Samples

Changing the sample

You may find it easier to set your workfile sample from the command window using the smpl command.

STEP 1:In the command window just type:

Smpl start_obs end_obs if if_command

STEP 2: Press enter.

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Samples

Changing the sample

Sample offsets (examples)

smpl 1953m1 1953m1+11

Sample that includes 12 observations in the

calendar year beginning in 1953m1.

smpl @first+1 @last

Sample where the first observation is dropped.

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Sample Objects

It can become quite cumbersome and

time-consuming to re-enter sample

selection rules if you change samples

frequently.

EViews provides a method of saving

sample information in an object which can

then be referred to by name.

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Sample objects

Creating a sample object

STEP 1:In the main menu, select Object/New Object…

STEP 2: Select Sample. You may, at this time, provide a name for the group. If you do not provide a name, EViews will automatically assign one for you.

STEP 3: Click OK. EViews will open the sample object specification dialog.

Note: In the dialog, there is a check box for setting the workfile sample equal to the sample object. This means that defining a sample object does not automatically apply the sampling procedure in the workfile.

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Sample objects

Creating a sample object

using a command:

sample sample_name start_obs end_obs

if if_command

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Sample objects

Using a sample object

To use a previously defined sample object to set

the workfile sample,

STEP 1: Open a sample object by double

clicking on the name or icon.

STEP 2: Click the Set workfile sample check

box.

STEP 3: Click OK.

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Sample objects

Using a sample object

Using a command: smpl sample_name

For many purposes, you may also use a named sample object as though it were an ordinary EViews series containing values 1 and 0, for observations that are and are not included, respectively.

This means that sample objects can be used in EViews expressions and in the construction of other sample objects.

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Importing data

Entering data

For small datasets in printed form, you may wish

to enter the data by typing at the keyboard.

STEP 1: To open a temporary spreadsheet

window in which you will enter the data, choose

Quick/Empty Group (Edit Series) from the main

menu.

STEP 2: Do the following steps:

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Importing data

Entering data

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Importing data

Entering data

STEP 3: If you are done typing the data,

name the untitled group by clicking the

Name button.

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Importing data

Copy-and-pasting

Useful for small datasets and other software applications (ex. Excel)

STEP 1: Highlight and copy the cells (including the variable headings/names) to be imported into EViews.

STEP 2: In EViews, create or load a workfile and choose Quick/Empty Group (Edit Series) from the main menu.

STEP 3: Place the cursor and click the upper-left cell just to the right of the second obs label.

STEP 4: Select Edit/Paste from the main menu (or simply use the right mouse click to paste).

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Importing data


STEP 1: Make sure you have an open workfile and that the workfile window is active.

STEP 2: Click on Proc/Import/Read Text-Lotus-Excel… You will see a standard File Open dialog box. Select a file type and file name.

STEP 3: Click OK. EViews fill open a dialog prompting you for additional information about the import procedure.

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Importing data


(spreadsheet import)

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Importing data


(ASCII text files import)

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Exporting data

Exporting to a spreadsheet or text file

STEP 1: Make sure you have an open workfile

and that the workfile window is active.

STEP 2: Click on Proc/Export/Read Text-Lotus-

Excel… You will see a standard SaveAs dialog

box. Select file name and the type of the output

file.

STEP 3: Click OK.

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EViews 5. Working with Data

Numeric expressions

An EViews expression is a combination of numbers, series names, functions, and mathematical and relational operators.

You can use these expressions to:

Calculate a new series from existing series;

Describe a sample of observations;

Describe an equation for estimation or forecasting.

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Numeric expressions: operators

Eviews follows the usual order in evaluating expressions with operator precedence order as follows (from highest precedence to lowest): Unary minus/negation (-), unary plus (+);

Exponentiation (^);

Multiplication (*), division (/);

Addition (+), subtraction (-);

Comparison (<, >, <=, >=, =);

and, or.

To enforce a particular order of evaluation, you can use parentheses.

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Numeric expressions:

lags and leads

Lags are specified as negative numbers

example: x(-4) is the fourth lag of x.

Leads are specified as positive numbers

example: y(2) is the second lead of y.

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Numeric expressions: differences

EViews has several built-in functions for working with difference data in either levels or in logs.

Examples: d(x) x – x(-1)

dlog(x) log(x) – log(x(-1))

d(x,4) fourth order difference of x

d(x,1,4) first order difference of x with a seasonal difference at lag 4

d(x,0,4) x with a seasonal difference at lag 4

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Series

One of the primary uses of expressions is

to generate new series from existing data

or to modify the values in an existing

series.

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Series

Creating/modifying a series

STEP 1: Select

Quick/Generate Series…

or click the Genr button on

the workfile toolbar.

EViews opens a window

prompting you for

additional information

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Series

Creating/modifying a series (STEP 2)

Basic assignment

Type the series name, followed by an equal sign and

then an expression.

For example, in the previous slide, y = 2*x + 37*z

means that if there is no series named y, EViews will

create the y series and will fill each element of the y

series with the value of the expression.

If the series y exists, EViews will replace the y values.

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54

Series

Creating/modifying a series (STEP 2)

Dynamic assignment

You can also perform dynamic assignment by using lagged values of the destination series on the right side of the equality.

Example: y = y +y(-1)

This creates a y series with the cumulative sum of y.

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Scalars

Scalar objects are different from series in that they hold a single number instead of data for each observation in the sample.

Scalars are created by the commands of the form:

Scalar scalar_name = number

Scalar objects have no window views, to see the value of the scalar, double click on the scalar name in the workfile window and the value will be displayed in the status line.

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Alpha series

An alpha series object contains a set of

observations on alphanumeric string

values.

If this type of data was entered into an

ordinary series, EViews will replace the

string with the numeric missing value, NA.

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Alpha series

Creating an alpha series

STEP 1: In the main menu, select

Object/New Object…

STEP 2: Select Series Alpha. You may,

at this time, provide a name for the

series.

STEP 3: Click OK. EViews will open a

spreadsheet view of the new series

object.

STEP 4: To modify truncation length,

from the main menu select

Options/Alpha Truncation…. And enter

the desired length.

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Alpha series

Editing an alpha series

There is no difference between editing an

ordinary numeric series and editing an

alpha series.

Issues on working with strings shall be

addressed in later lectures.

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EViews 6. Basic Data Analysis

57

Basic data analysis

EViews provides various statistical graphs, descriptive statistics, and procedures as “views” and “procedures” of a numeric series.

Series views compute various statistics for single series and display these statistics in various forms such as spreadsheets, tables, and graphs.

Series procedures create new series from the data in existing series. These procedures include various seasonal adjustment methods, exponential smoothing methods, and the Hodrick-Prescott filter.

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Series

To access the views and procedures for

series, open the series window by double

clicking on the series name in the workfile,

or by typing show followed by the name of

the series in the command window.

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Series

The series view drop-

down menu is divided

into four blocks.

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Descriptive statistics and tests

Skewness – positive (negative) skewness means that the distribution has a long right (left) tail;

Kurtosis – the kurtosis of the normal distribution is 3; if the kurtosis is greater (less) than 3, the distribution is leptokurtic (platykurtic);

Jarque-Bera – test statistic for testing whether the series is normally distributed (null hypothesis: normal distribution)

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Simple hypothesis tests

Mean test – Ho: mean of the series is equal to the specified value;

Variance test - Ho: variance of the series is equal to the specified value;

Median test - Ho: median of the series is equal to the specified value

Ha: mean/variance/median is not equal to the specified value

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Equality tests by classification

This view allows you to test equality of the

means, medians, and variances across

subsamples (or subgroups) of a single series.

For example, you can test whether mean income

is the same for males and females, or whether

the variance of education is related to race.

The tests assume that the subsamples are

independent.

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60

Equality tests by classification

Select View/

Descriptive Statistics

& Tests/ Equality

Tests by

Classification… and

the Tests by

Classification dialog

box appears

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Empirical distribution tests

You can test whether your series is normally distributed, or whether it comes from, among others, an exponential, extreme value, logistic, chi-square, Weibull, or gamma distribution.

You may provide parameters for the distribution, or EViews will estimate the parameters for you.

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One-way tabulation

This view tabulates

the series in

ascending order,

optionally displaying

the counts,

percentage counts,

and cumulative

counts.

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Correlogram

This view displays the

autocorrelation and

partial autocorrelation

functions up to the

specified order of lags.

These functions

characterize the pattern

of temporal dependence

in the series and typically

make sense only for time

series data.

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Unit Root test

This view carries out the Augmented

Dickey-Fuller (ADF), GLS transformed

Dickey-Fuller (DFGLS), Phillips-Perron

(PP), etc… unit root tests for whether the

series (or it’s first or second difference) is

stationary.

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Series procs overview

Series procedures may be used to generate new series that are based upon the data in the original series.

You may also use series procs to resample from the orginal series, to perofrm seasonal adjustment or exponential smoothing.

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Graphing data

Constructing graphs from data is an

important part of the process of data

analysis and presentation.

The last part of this section shall focus on

describing the basics of graphing data in

series using the View/Graph… menu item.

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Graphing data

Another way of graphing data is to select Quick/Graph…

You will then be required to enter the list of series, groups, and/or series expressions you want to graph.

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Graphing data

After you click OK, the Graph Options dialog will appear.

The Graph Options dialog has multiple pages that specify various settings for the graph view.

The Type page is of central importance since it controls the graph you wish to display.

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EViews 7. Basic Single-Equation

Analysis

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Single-equation regression

Single-equation regression is one of the most versatile and widely used statistical techniques.

Basic regression techniques in EViews:

specifying and estimating a regression model,

performing simple diagnostic analysis, and

using the estimation results in further analysis.

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Specifying an equation in EViews

Click Quick/Estimate

equation… to open

the Equation

Estimation dialog.

You then have to

specify:

Equation specification

Estimation settings

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Sample estimation output

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Documents

Eviews - Introduction