Nicholas R. Noble

EViews
User’s Guide

EViews

Opening an EViews Workfile
Getting Data. Existing Data files Click on FILE-OPEN Choose the correct workfile, and Click OPEN

Figure 1

EViews will open the requested file, and provide a list of variables and objects in the file. The open box on the screen is called the workfile box. (see Figure 2) The buttons with the labels VIEW, PROCS, SAVE, etc. are referred to as the toolbar. EViews has several different toolbars that we will use.

Figure 2

EViews User Guide

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SAVING An EViews Workfile

To save a file, Click on FILE - SAVE

Alternatively, Click SAVE on the toolbar on the workfile box. or FILE- SAVE AS to change the name of the file Note: To take the file with you, you must save the file to a diskette in the A:\ drive, instead of the computer’s hard drive.

Figure 3

EViews User Guide

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Choosing the Observations (Sample Size)
The portion of the data that EViews uses for analysis is determined by sample size. Sample size can be changed from the defaults by using the QUICK menu. (Figure 4) Click on QUICK then click on SAMPLE

In the sample box (Figure 5) fill in the starting and ending date. You must use Proper EViews date form. The correct form for a date is: Annual Data 1960 for the year 1960 Quarterly Data 1960:1 (or 60:1) for first quarter in 1960. Use 60:3 for third quarter. Monthly Data 1960:4 (or 60:4) for April 1960. Use 60:10 for Oct. 1960. Undated Data Use observation numbers. Skipping Data To skip a set of observations, use four dates, start date 1, end date 1, start date 2, end date 2.

Figure 4

Figure 5

EViews User Guide

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PRINTING DATA
To Print data, use the QUICK menu (Figure 4), and choose SHOW Type the variable name in the box. (Figure 6) and Click on OK Alternatively, click on SHOW in the workfile box.

Figure 6

EViews will show the data in a spreadsheet form. (Figure 7) This is called the Spreadsheet box. Click on PRINT to send this information to the printer. Alternatively, the Spreadsheet box will appear if you double-click on a variable in the workfile box.

Figure 7

EViews User Guide

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TO print more than one variable, choose QUICK and SHOW and then enter the names of the variables you wish to print. (Figure 8)

Figure 8

Use the PRINT button on the toolbar to send the data to the printer,

Figure 9

EViews User Guide

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PLOTTING DATA
EViews does an excellent job plotting data. To plot two variables together, use the QUICK menu, and choose GRAPH

Fill in the names of the variables in the box (figure 10) and click on OK

Figure 10 EViews has several graphic options. The default is a line graph. If the variables that you plot are similar in magnitude, use SINGLE SCALE If the variables are different in magnitude, use one of the DUAL SCALES options (Figure 11)

Figure 11

EViews User Guide

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The resulting Graph can be printed using the PRINT button on the graphic toolbar. The PrintSetup button determines the size and attributes of the printed graph.

Figure 12

The AddText button (Figure 13) on the graphics toolbar allow the addition of a title or other information to the graph

Figure 13

EViews User Guide

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This information will also be printed along with the graph. The name button on the toolbar will give the graph a name, and the graph can be stored in the workfile along with the data.

Figure 14

Using the add text allows for axis titles. The AddShade allow time periods to be emphasized. (Figure 15)

Figure 15

EViews User Guide

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One other graphic option is a scattergram. A scattergram plots one variable on the yaxis and one variable on the x-axis. To produce a scattergram, follow the steps in figure 10, but choose SCATTER DIAGRAM option. The click on OK. Note the scale options play no role if scatter diagram is chosen.

Figure 16

The variable listed first will be plotted on the y-axis, and the variable listed