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

Title bar

The EViews window

•Selecting an item from
the menu will open a
drop-down menu
containing additional
commands.
Main •A grayed-out
menu command means the
command is not
currently available.
Drop- •An ellipse (…)
down following the command
menu 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
•A right-triangle (►)
means that additional
(cascading) menus will
appear if you select this
item.
Main •A check mark ()
menu indicates that the
option listed in the
menu is currently in
effect.
Drop-
down •Most menu items
menu contain underlined
characters representing
keyboard shortcuts

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
•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
Work window has a darkened
area titlebar.

The EViews window

•The status line
contains messages
sent to you by EViews,
the default directory,
name of the default
database, and name of
the active workfile.

Status line
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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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Creating a workfile by describing its

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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Creating a workfile by describing its
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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Creating a workfile by describing its

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
Importing data from a spreadsheet or text file
(spreadsheet import)

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Importing data
Importing data from a spreadsheet or text file
(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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The workfile window:

•The button bar
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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 The workfile window:
•Just click “range” to
Workfile range structure or resize
and structure your workfile.

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The workfile window:

•The “sample”
displays the range of
Current observations that are
sample 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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 The workfile window:
•The main portion of
the window is the
workfile directory
where you will see
Workfile
the contents (which
directory are called “objects”)
of your workfile page.

Click to scroll
page tabs Click here to create a
Workfile page tabs (click to new workfile page
set active page)
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The workfile window:

•When working with
Current filter workfiles containing
(click to a large number of
change) 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
 Singleprecision 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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Basic object operations

 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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Basic object operations
 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 Equation titlebar

(inactive) (active)

Equation
window toolbar
Workfile
window
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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Working with objects
 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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Working with objects

 Labeling objects
 EViews objects have label fields where you
can provide extended annotation and
commentary.

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Working with objects
 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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Working with objects

 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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Working with objects
 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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Working with objects

 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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Working with objects
 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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Working with objects

 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
Changing the spreadsheet display
 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
Changing the spreadsheet display
 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.
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Series
Changing the spreadsheet display
 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
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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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45
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:

91

Importing data
Entering data

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46
Importing data
Entering data
 STEP 3: If you are done typing the data,
name the untitled group by clicking the
Name button.

93

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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47
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.

95

Importing data
Importing data from a spreadsheet or text file
(spreadsheet import)

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48
Importing data
Importing data from a spreadsheet or text file
(ASCII text files import)

97

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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50
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.
101

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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51
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

103

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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52
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

105

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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53
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.

107

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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54
 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.

109

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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55
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.

111

EViews
6. Basic Data Analysis

56
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.

113

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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57
Series
 The series view drop-
down menu is divided
into four blocks.

115

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) 116

58
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
117

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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59
Equality tests by classification
 Select View/
Descriptive Statistics
& Tests/ Equality
Tests by
Classification… and
the Tests by
Classification dialog
box appears

119

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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60
One-way tabulation
 This view tabulates
the series in
ascending order,
optionally displaying
the counts,
percentage counts,
and cumulative
counts.

121

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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61
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.

123

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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62
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.

125

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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63
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.

127

EViews
7. Basic Single-Equation
Analysis

64
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.
129

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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