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Archive-name: econ-resources-faq/part18 Aux-Header: Posting-Frequency: monthly Sci-econ-research-archive-name: econ-resources-faq/ Last-modified 1999/09/30 Version: vol. 4 no. 2 Url: http://rfe.org See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Resources for Economists on the Internet, Vol. 4, No. 2, September, 1999
Editor: Bill Goffe <Bill.Goffe@usm.edu>
Editorial Assistant: Elise Braden <elise@econlit.org>
Part 18 of 20
This guide, sponsored by the American Economic Association, lists
more than 1,000 resources on the Internet of interest to academic and
practicing economists, and those interested in economics. Almost all
resources are also described.
Resources for Economists on the Internet (RFE) is a copyrighted work
of the American Economic Association (the "AEA"). Permission to make
digital, electronic or hard copies of part or all of RFE for personal
or classroom use, Usenet distribution, or mailing lists is granted,
provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or direct
commercial advantage and that whole copies show the following notice:
"Resources for Economists on the Internet (RFE), Copyright 1999
American Economic Association"
Otherwise the AEA owns the exclusive right to print, publish,
distribute, reproduce, sell, prepare derivative works, transmit,
download, or otherwise transfer copies of RFE. Copyrights of
components of this work owned by others than the AEA must be honored
and attributed to the rightful owner. Abstracting and short quotes
are permitted. To copy otherwise or to republish otherwise, including
on web pages, in whole or in part requires prior specific permission.
Permissions may be requested from the American Economic Association,
2014 Broadway, Suite 305, Nashville, TN 37203, or via E-mail:
aeainfo@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu. RFE is provided without any express
or implied warranty.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For distribution via Usenet, this FAQ is split into 20 parts as large
files don't travel well on Usenet. For other locations of this guide,
see the section titled "1.5 Where to Obtain This Guide" in part 2.
13.0 Software
13.1.0 Internet Software
13.1.1 Adobe Acrobat Reader
[freely available software to read "PDF" files]
Adobe Acrobat PDF (portable document file) files contain all the
information needed to fully describe a document: fonts, graphics, and
even colors. It is a very useful way to exchange files that have such
features, such as working papers. The IRS even uses PDF files to
distribute tax forms through the Internet. To read PDF files, you
need an Acrobat "reader." Adobe makes readers available freely at
this site (they generate revenue from the software that creates PDF
files). It is easy to configure web browsers to automatically invoke
readers when they encounter PDF files.
# http://www.adobe.com/
13.1.2 Ghostscript, Ghostview, and GSview
[freely available software to read "PostScript" files]
This set of freely available software lets you read PostScript and
PDF documents on your PC, and print them. Ghostscript prints them,
while Ghostview and GSview display them on your PC (Ghostview is for
Unix platforms, and GSview is for Windows platforms; both require
Ghostview). This software is freely available.
# http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
13.1.3 Netscape
[leading browser manufacturer]
Netscape makes the leading browser for the Internet. Its use is now
free for all users, and the source code is available as well for the
next version.
# http://www.netscape.com/
13.1.4 Real Networks
[leading audio-visual software]
This firm provides the leading audio and video software for the
Internet. Some versions of their "player" software are freely
available, and many platforms are available.
# http://www.real.com/
13.1.5 uuencode/uudecode
[enables binary files to be e-mailed]
If you don't have access to e-mail "attachments" (which use a
technology known as "MIME"), this pair of programs can let you e-mail
binary programs and data. Uuencode takes a binary file (such as a
word processing file or a program) and converts it to text so that it
can be e-mailed. Uudecode than converts it back to binary. Using this
pair of programs, researchers can collaborate by e-mailing binary
data or word processing files. (If one host is an IBM mainframe, be
sure to use the -x option.)
# ftp://ftp.TeX.ac.UK/ctan/tex-archive/archive-tools/uue/
13.1.6 WinZip
[leading decompression program]
This very useful Windows shareware utility can decompress most any
type of compressed or archived file found on the Internet (this
includes ".tar" and ".gz" files). The $29 price is money well spent.
It also operates as "add-on" for browsers to decompress from files
from the net -- they can thus be downloaded in one step.
# http://www.winzip.com/winzip/
13.1.7 xpdf
[another PDF file viewer]
Derek Noonburg has written a pdf viewer for systems running X Window
as an alternative to Adobe's version. Versions for many Unix systems
can be found here.
# http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/
13.2.0 Software Program Libraries
13.2.1 Guide to Available Mathematical Software (GAMS)
[guide to 9,000 numerical routines]
This database contains information on almost 9,000 numerical routines
from about 80 packages. It can be searched interactively in several
different ways and is frequently updated. It is run by the U.S.
National Institute of Standards.
# http://gams.nist.gov/
# telnet://gams@gams.nist.gov
13.2.2 Netlib
[leading archive for numerical software]
Netlib is a numerical software library with approximately 50
megabytes of code. The routines, mostly in Fortran, are generally of
high quality (many were developed at U.S. national labs or by
professional numerical analysts). The popularity of Netlib is
attested by the number of times it has been contacted -- at last
count, nearly 23 million times.
Packages include Linpack, Eispack, and their successor, Lapack
(including a pre-release version in C), fftpack, the Harwell sparse
matrix routines, Hompack, Lanczos, and Minpack. There are many other
more specialized libraries. There is also code from various texts
(but not Numerical Recipes), and code from the ACM Transactions on
Mathematical Software (more than 500 different routines here alone).
There are also many directories organized not by package, but by
subject (each entry is code by different authors). Finally, there are
various tools for Fortran and C users.
In all, there are nearly 150 directories covering nearly every
imaginable area in numerical computation. Any user of numerical
methods would be well advised to be familiar with it.
Netlib is available via e-mail, ftp, gopher, and the web.
Introductory material on Netlib can be found in the first entries of
the web, ftp, and gopher interfaces. For an e-mail. introduction,
write "send index" in the body of a message addressed to one of the
sites listed below, and in return you will receive general
directions.
You can search the contents of Netlib via e-mail (the method is
explained in the e-mail directions) and via the web interface. The
latter is more flexible, but you must carefully read the directions.
The netlib2 ftp site, web and gopher sites contain uncompressed
files.
# http://www.netlib.org/
# gopher://netlib2.cs.utk.edu:70/1/
# ftp://netlib2.cs.utk.edu
# Mail Site: <netlib@ornl.gov>
# ATT Mirror: <netlib@research.att.com>
# UK Mirror: <netlib@unix.hensa.ac.uk>
# Norway Mirror: <netlib@nac.no>
# Australia Mirror: <netlib@draci.cs.uow.edu.au>
13.2.3 CodEc: Code for Economics and Econometrics
[general archive]
CodEc, part of the NetEc, contains computer programs of interest to
economists. Different hardware platforms, programming languages, and
application languages are supported. They include C and C++, DOS and
Windows executables, Fortran, Gauss, Mathematica, Matlab, Rats,
Shazam, and Xlisp-Stat. In all, there are about 20 different programs
and packages, some of which are quite extensive. For instance, it
includes Hal Varian's Mathematica Notebooks for "Microeconomic
Analysis," Matlab routines from Hansen and Sargent's "Recursive
Linear Models of Dynamic Economies," routines from Estima (who
produces Rats), Lin's "GAUSS Programming for Econometricians" (with
routines for least squares, simultaneous least squares, arima models,
and nonlinear optimization),Gary Langer's BCI Data Manager, Rizzo's
GAUSS routines for Tobit and Probit models, King's maximum likelihood
routines for GAUSS, C++ matrix classes by both Chris Birchenhall and
Robert Davies, King's "count+duration" regression software, Haerdle's
"XploRe" for nonparametric regression and data-analysis as well as
other programs. Information on the programs is identified by
"software information" files that identifies the author, a
description, software required, etc. CodEc also provides links to
other code archives as well as links to some companies that offer
programs frequently used by economists.
Dirk Eddelbuettel kindly helped edit this entry.
# http://netec.wustl.edu/CodEc.html
# http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/CodEc.html
# http://netec.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/CodEc.html
# Information: Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@qed.econ.queensu.ca>
13.2.4 Econometrics Laboratory Software Archive (ELSA)
[archives and tests software for economists]
This site at UC Berkeley is partially funded by the NSF. It is
designed to " facilitate the interchange of computational algorithms
that have economic applications. In addition to serving as a central
location for experimental software, we want to work with developers
of algorithms, at Berkeley and elsewhere, to produce standards for
documentation and testing that will facilitate the exchange of new
methodologies and solutions to complex computational problems.
Authors of software that have potential applicability in economics
are encouraged to submit algorithms that conform to our documentation
and testing paradigm."
One unique aspect of ELSA is that where possible, code is tested, so
users have some assurance of quality. Researchers can easily submit
their code to the archive; they have detailed instructions on how to
do so. The archive also includes some data, and they round out their
collection with a section on "Manuals, FAQs, and Working Papers" in
the field.
# http://elsa.berkeley.edu/
13.2.5 GAUSS Source Code Archive at American Univ.
[key GAUSS repository]
This library is devoted to GAUSS programs. Be careful to read the
file titled "READ ME FIRST" describing the conditions and terms of
programs in it. In particular, it is for public, non-commercial code,
the code should be clearly attributed, and documented. This file
contains details on how to submit code to the library. Besides
listing code stored here, it also lists many other site with GAUSS
code.
# http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/econ/gaussres/GAUSSIDX.HTM
13.2.6 Statlib
[archive for statistical software]
Statlib is a system similar to Netlib (in fact, it uses roughly the
same e-mail software) for statistical software. Major holding include
algorithms from Applied Statistics, numerous classic datasets
(although few are economic), software for Minitab and S, and a
variety of other software under a heading named "general."
For the e-mail interface, send the phrase "send index" in the body of
your message.
# http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/
# E-Mail <statlib@lib.stat.cmu.edu>
13.2.7 Xlisp-Stat Archive
[commonly used by statisticians]
This archive of programs for this package is divided into several
sections. It includes links to other Xlisp sites, code, contributed
programs, and documentation.
# http://www.stat.ucla.edu/develop/lisp/xlisp/xlisp-stat/
13.2.8 Software for Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE)
[archive for this new field]
This new area of research, which includes "complex adaptive systems,"
and is quite computational, has this on-line archive for its
software. Each of the different packages is clearly described.
# http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/acecode.htm
13.3.0 Statistical and Computational Software
13.3.1 AREMOS (WEFA Group)
This software, a product of WEFA Group, is designed to both manage
and analyze time series. It is also is said to feature extensive
presentation facilities. It is available for a number of packages.
# http://www.wefa.com/capabilities/software/aremos.cfm
13.3.2 AUTOBOX
This company offers a sophisticated automatic time series forecasting
engine. At this site, they offer extensive information on their
products. You can even follow an example of solving a problem. Their
products are available for a number of platforms.
# http://www.autobox.com/
13.3.3 BETA (Laissez Faire Software)
This firm produces BETA, a wide ranging econometrics program.
Versions are available for DOS, Windows and OS/2.
# Information: <LaissezF@aol.com>
13.3.4 ComLabGames
[on-line strategic and extensive form games]
This site provides software and directions for running strategic and
extensive form games over the Internet. One PC acts as the moderator
that sets the rules of the games, and others can then simultaneously
play. When the game is done, the results can be analyzed. Thus, it is
an excellent teaching device for game theory. Both the software and
extensive directions can be found here.
# http://www.cmu.edu/comlabgames
13.3.5 EPS (DRI/McGraw-Hill)
This product from DRI/McGraw-Hill "...features a broad range of
econometric and statistical functions for the creation and analysis
of time-series and multi-dimensional data. EPS also includes powerful
programming capabilities that simplify data manipulation and
model-building." It also has many features for analyzing financial
markets. In short, it is a completely integrated package for time
series analysis.
# http://www.dri.mcgraw-hill.com/dataprod.htm
13.3.6 EXPO & EXPO/SE (Leading Market Technologies)
This company's products are often used for analysis in the financial
industry. "It's flagship product EXPO has a powerful backbone of
mathematical, statistical, and time series analysis routines, paired
with a highly visual, customizable, easy-access front-end." They also
offer a high speed server. Many of their products can be downloaded
for a free trial. They also offer a free student version. It is a
subset of the regular version in only two ways: it supports only 12
open windows, and it cannot perform realtime analysis.
# http://www.lmt-expo.com/
13.3.7 GAMS
"The General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is a high-level
modeling system for mathematical programming problems. It consists of
a language compiler and a stable of integrated high-performance
solvers. GAMS is tailored for complex, large scale modeling
applications, and allows you build large maintainable models that can
be adapted quickly to new situations." It can run on machines that
vary in size from PC to supercomputers.
At this site you can read about GAMS, including solvers and supported
platforms. They also offer extensive documentation (including FAQs
and an index to their model library), information on contributed
software, and material on workshops and courses.
# http://www.gams.com/
# Information: <gams@gams.com>
13.3.8 GAUSS (Aptech)
This site offers information on this very popular software package
for econometrics. Specifically, they offer information on GAUSS and
products for it, new features and products, information on where to
buy it, comments from users, and links to related sites.
# http://www.aptech.com/
# Information: <info@Aptech.com>
# Orders: <sales@Aptech.com>
# Technical Support: <support@Aptech.com>
13.3.9 Ivation (Beyond 20/20)
This company's product, "Beyond 20/20," "... is the multidimensional
software system chosen by information providers and publishers to
organize, manage, and deliver statistical data to their customers."
With it, one can easily view and analyze complex datasets from many
different perspectives in many different ways. It is easy to output
data to other statistical tools. Their customers include many major
statistical agencies.
# http://www.ivation.com/
13.3.10 Limdep
"LIMDEP is the premier program for estimation and analysis of
regression models, and qualitative and limited dependent variables.
No other program offers a greater variety of modeling frameworks,
tools and features for analysis of cross section, panel, and time
series data." The latest version of LIMDEP, 7.0, include a complete
Windows interface (new statistical features are in the mainframe
version as well). You can find extensive details about the program
here (along with details on NLOGIT 2.0), ordering information
(including ordering on-line), a discussion list, contact information,
and an on-line manual.
# http://www.limdep.com
13.3.11 LINDO
This company specializes in optimization software. This includes
linear and nonlinear programming, as well as spreadsheet plug-ins.
You can find information about their products here.
# http://www.lindo.com/
# Information: <info@lindo.com>
13.3.12 MLE++ and MLEQuick (Cahill Software)
Cahill Software offers MLE++, a C++ class library for maximum
likelihood estimation. This offers greater flexibility than "canned"
routines. They also offer a menu driven package, MLEQuick, for
"discrete dependent variable models, censored and truncated models,
and survival analysis." Finally, Cahill Software can be hired for
contract programming, with a specialty in "statistical estimation
programs and simulation models."
# http://www.magma.ca/~cahill/
13.3.13 MODLER
This package, which has been in development since its inception in
1968, was originally designed for the econometric analysis of small
or large scale econometric models. It has expanded into other areas,
including data management, general statistical analysis, and
simulations. It also offers close integration with common desktop
applications. It is in use by organizations around the world, and it
is available in different "sizes" (i.e. the maximum number of
equations a version can handle).
# http://www.modler.com/
13.3.14 Otter Research Ltd. (AD Model Builder & MULTIFAN)
This company offers two products: AD Model Builder and MULTIFAN. The
former "is a tool for the rapid development and implementation of
nonlinear statistical models." It is said to have a number of useful
features: derivatives are calculated without intervention and very
efficiently, the Hessian and covariance matrices are automatically
available, etc. Programs, documentation, and a trial version are
available here. The other product, MULTIFAN, "is used to estimate
growth and mortality for fishes and other species using length
frequency data." An advanced version, MULTIFAN-CL is now available as
well.
# http://www.island.net/~otter/
13.3.15 Maple (Waterloo Maple)
This firm's main product is "Maple," a symbolic algebra program that
also does two and three-dimensional graphics and arbitrary precision
numbers. The offer extensive information and support on the product
here: a library of books on Maple, information for their customers,
and on-line registration.
# http://www.maplesoft.com/
13.3.16 MathCad & S Plus (Mathsoft)
This company produces two products that might interest economists --
MathCad and S Plus. The former turns your computer into a "live
worksheet" where you can perform numerous types of calculations. The
latter is an object-oriented statistical analysis program. It has a
large following in the statistics community. Extensive information on
both of these programs can be found here.
# http://www.mathsoft.com/
13.3.17 Mathematica (Wolfram Research)
This web site has a variety of information on their Mathematica
product, including information on customer support, student versions,
product information, technical information, and MathSource, which is
said to be "the largest collection of packages, notebooks, examples,
and programs available." You can also order Mathematica here, and
update your current version.
# http://www.wri.com/
13.3.18 MATLAB and SIMULINK (MathWorks)
This site offers extensive information about their products. You can
read about the features of MATLAB, SIMULINK, Toolboxes and Blocksets,
extensive support information. You can also retrieve user-contributed
and MathWorks-written software, read about MATLAB books, and also
read material from the many different forums that discuss MATLAB.
# http://www.mathworks.com/
# Sales, Pricing and General Info: <info@mathworks.com>
# Technical Support: <support@mathworks.com>
# Bug Reports: <bugs@mathworks.com>
13.3.19 Microfit
This Windows and DOS program is written by Dr. Hashem Pesaran of the
University of Cambridge and Dr. Bahram Pesaran of Tudor Proprietary
Trading L.L.C. "For the econometric analysis of time series data
Microfit is an unrivaled package. With its extensive choice of data
analysis options, this program is a versatile aid to all those
interested in the evaluation and design of advanced univariate and
multivariate time series models." It is said to be used at a number
or central banks and large financial institutions. Details on pricing
can be found here as well, and a demo version from this site is
available.
# http://www.intecc.co.uk/camfit/
13.3.20 Minitab
This site offers extensive product information (including a student
versions of their software), customer support (including FAQs, papers
on using Minitab in classes, macros, bug fixes, and textbooks that
use Minitab). They also have information on workshops and
conferences, and a "community" section on numerous on-line
statistical resources. There is information on the company as well.
# http://www.minitab.com/
13.3.21 Modeleasy
This statistical modeling software is designed for large models (i.e.
, those with thousands of linear or nonlinear equations). It also has
many estimation and simulation techniques, as well as "extraordinary"
graphical output. Information about its features can be found here.
# http://www.modeleasy.com/
13.3.22 Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG)
You can find out about the products of this company, famous for its
Fortran libraries, here. The also have a Fortran 90 repository.
# http://www.nag.co.uk/
13.3.23 Numerical Recipes
"Numerical Recipes" was originally the title of a book that
implemented numerical algorithms in different computer languages.
They have expanded with a number of books and also offer the
algorithms in different electronic forms: both via diskettes and
on-line. At this site, they offer information and news on themselves,
an on-line store (i.e. you can purchase the routines and books
on-line), instructions for their use, free upgrades and bug reports,
related information on the Internet, and associated information.
# http://nr.harvard.edu/nr/nrhome.html
13.3.24 Ox
This matrix programming language for econometrics is written by
Jurgen A. Doornik of Oxford University. There are a number of
packages and utilities for it for basic and advanced econometric work
(panel data, ARIMA, VAR, cointegration, simultaneous equations, etc.).
It can also import data in a number of formats. Complete
information about the package is available, as is the actual code for
a wide variety of platforms. Doornik also writes PcGive, PcFiml, and
GivWin, which are described in this section.
# http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/Users/Doornik/
13.3.25 Octave
"GNU Octave is a high-level language, primarily intended for
numerical computations. It provides a convenient command line
interface for solving linear and nonlinear problems numerically, and
for performing other numerical experiments using a language that is
mostly compatible with Matlab." It is freely available software, and
is available for most versions of Unix and Windows. Functions are
available for most statistical operations.
# http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/
+ 13.3.26 O-Matrix (Harmonic Software)
+
+ O-Matrix if a full-featured interactive mathematical package for
+ Windows machines. Its list of features include matrix operations,
+ statistics, optimization, calculus, and even wavelets. As one might
+ guess, it includes extensive plotting capabilities, and one can even
+ create a graphical interface with it. A free version is available
+ on-line. O-Matrix is said to be faster than Matlab, and the upcoming
+ version 5 (now in beta testing) can run both Matlab scripts and
+ functions.
+
+ # http://www.omatrix.com/
13.3.27 PcGive, PcFiml, and GiveWin
This set of packages is by Jurgen A. Doornik of Oxford University.
GiveWin is a "front end" where the commands are given and output is
displayed, while PcGive is for single equation modeling, and PcFiml
is for multi-equation work (VARs, cointegration, and simultaneous
equations). A demo of GiveWin and PcGive are available here, while
complete versions are distributed by Timberlake Consultants (the
second URL below).
# http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/Users/Doornik/
# http://www.timberlake.co.uk/
13.3.28 Qplot for Gnuplot
Gnuplot is a commonly used for many plotting duties, but it is
difficult to use for quarterly data that is common in macro. This
page contains and describes a Perl routine "qplot" that adds this
functionality. This page also contains examples of its use.
# http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/qplot/
13.3.29 Quantitative Micro Software
This firm sells MicroTSP and its descendent, EViews. Versions are
available for Macs, MS-DOS, and Windows platforms. Currently, you can
read about their products and obtain support (including updated
software). They also offer the DRI Basic Economics Database (formerly
Citibase).
# http://www.eviews.com/
# General Info and Sales: <sales@eviews.com>
# Customer Support: <support@eviews.com>
13.3.30 RATS (Estima)
On their web site, you can read the latest news from Estima, the
producer of RATS and other related products. You can also read about
general information on their products and about frequently asked
questions on RATS. Finally, they offer a list of procedures and
examples.
# http://www.estima.com/
# Other Support: <estima@estima.com>
13.3.31 SAS
Besides some information on their statistical products, you can also
read about some of their other products and about the company itself.
In addition, you can find out about training classes at their sites,
find extensive information about support (including communicating
with SAS via the web and e-mail) and answers to various common
questions, using a searchable database of more than 10,000 SAS Notes.
There are also routines and sample datasets from the SAS Sample
Library. One can even order their books on-line.
# http://www.sas.com/
# Education: <sasedu@vm.sas.com>
# Publications: <pubs@unx.sas.com>
# Software Sales and Marketing: <software@sas.sas.com>
13.3.32 SHAZAM
Besides offering support via e-mail, there are a number of additional
services offered over the Internet for SHAZAM. The ftp and gopher
sites listed below contain SHAZAM procedures, command files, issues
of SHAZAM Network News, and data and programs from an edition of
Judge and other sources (not all information is available on both the
ftp and gopher sites).
The web site offers a wealth of information on SHAZAM itself: some
manual chapters (still be modified for this environment), a
description of its features, hardware requirements, lists of
handbooks and disks, and examples and frequently asked questions. You
can even order a copy on-line.
In addition, they offer a very interesting service: one can run
SHAZAM programs remotely on their system. Via e-mail, a program can
be sent to <runshazam@shazam.econ.ubc.ca>. It must start with a
SHAZAM comment line (i.e. *), it must contain its own data, and they
ask that you don't abuse this offering with large jobs that tie up
the machine (they monitor usage). One can also use their web page to
run programs. Either allows one to try out SHAZAM, or for old users
to try the most recent version.
# http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/
# gopher://137.82.185.2/
11ftp%3aSCSI%3apub%3aUBCEconGopher%3aSHAZAM%3a
# ftp://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/pub
# Support: <help@shazam.econ.ubc.ca>
# Order Information: <info@shazam.econ.ubc.ca>
# Australia: <shazam@bond.edu.au>
13.3.33 SORITEC
This package, designed for a number of PC platforms, is said to be
very full-featured. At this site you can read about their products,
future plans, and how to obtain support. You can also obtain updates
of their products.
# http://fisisoft.com/
13.3.34 SPSS
At this on-line site, SPSS offers information on their products for
the variety of platforms they support, extensive material on their
training programs, FAQs on their products, a list of their offices
across the world, and information on documentation. They also offer
an on-line version of "Keywords," a magazine for their users.
Finally, they list a limited number of statistical resources on the
Internet.
# http://www.spss.com/
13.3.35 Stata
This site offers a wealth of information to existing and potential
Stata users. It includes extensive information on their products, and
equally extensive user support. The latter includes FAQs, archives of
their mailing list (described here in the mailing list section),
copies of the Stata Technical Bulletin diskette (not the STB
Journal), which includes bug fixes, user written programs, and new
features. In a nice innovation, they even offer courses over the
Internet. They even offer links to other providers of statistical
software.
# http://www.stata.com/
+ 13.3.36 Statgraphics (Statistical Graphics Corporation)
+
+ This firm's main product is "Statgraphics," a full-featured
+ statistical package. It includes "exploratory data analysis,
+ histograms, box-and-whisker plots, one sample analysis, two-sample
+ comparisons, regression and multiple regression, analysis of
+ variance, and sample size selection." It can also deal with censored
+ and uncensored data. As one might expect from its name, Statgraphics
+ has very strong graphical features. Besides product information,
+ this site offers a demo version, contact information, and links to
+ statistical sites.
+
+ # http://www.sgcorp.com/
13.3.37 STATISTICA
This general-purpose statistical program is said to receive quite
good reviews. While it does not seem to offer many economic or
econometric-specific features, it does offer a large range of
statistical procedures, including very extensive graphing,
explanatory analysis, and data mining.
# http://www.statsoft.com/
13.3.38 TSP International
Currently, this site has extensive information on their products,
including details on its capabilities. Pricing and ordering
information is available as well.
Note: this firm sells TSP; another firm, Quantitative Micro Software,
sells MicroTSP 7.0 and EViews.
# http://www.tspintl.com/
# Sales Inquiries: <sales@tspintl.com>
# Support: Clint Cummins <clint@leland.Stanford.edu>
13.3.39 VORSIM
This product is an Excel spreadsheet add-on that can perform a number
of useful functions and operations: "time series models with lags,
static partial equilibrium economic models, engineering process
models, business plan projections," etc. The details here include a
sample you can download.
# http://members.aol.com/vorecon/vorsim.html
13.3.40 Web Pages that Perform Statistical Calculations!
[links to 300 sites]
This resource points to more than 300 sites that perform interactive
statistical calculations. Besides the obvious of plotting and
calculating cumulative values of distributions, it also provides
links that offer advice and support on virtually the entire gamut of
statistics: choosing the appropriate test, descriptive statistics,
random numbers, and innumerable types of tests. It can be used for
both teaching and research.
# http://members.aol.com/johnp71/javastat.html
13.3.41 Xlisp-Stat
According to Hal Varian, a number of statisticians are using this
freely available package. Versions are available for Unix (both
character based and X Window), Macs, Amiga, and Microsoft Windows. It
is quite extensible and flexible, and produces a variety of graphical
outputs.
For additional information, one might want to look at the author's
(Luke Tierney) book: "Lisp Stat : An Object Oriented Environment for
Statistical Computing and Dynamic Graphics, 1991, Wiley, ISBN:
0471509167.
In addition, an archive for this package is located at UCLA.
Information on it is described in the "Software Program Libraries"
section.
# ftp://umnstat.stat.umn.edu/pub/xlispstat
# Information: Luke Tierney <luke@umnstat.stat.umn.edu>
13.3.42 XTREMES
This package is used for extreme value analysis. The companion book
is "Statistical Analysis of Extreme Values," R.D. Reiss and M.
Thomas. At this site, you can learn about the package, download
programs, and even download a sample copy of the software.
# http://www.xtremes.math.uni-siegen.de/
13.4.0 Word Processing
13.4.1 Creating Quality Adobe PDF Files from TeX with DVIPS
[generating nice PDF with TeX can be tricky]
This document describes how to change the fonts in TeX and LaTeX to
generate fonts that work well with PDF, a very common document system
on the Internet. Some of the default fonts for TeX and LaTeX do not
work well with PDF. I understand an easier method on some systems is
to use the "times" package (with the "usepackage" command in the
header).
# http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/SOLUTIONS/543e.htm
13.4.2 MT and MTs
[make tables for word processors from Stata or SAS output]
This set of programs, by Jonah Gelbach, takes Stata (MT) or SAS (MTs)
output and generates tables. Specifically, it takes Stata log files,
or SAS .lst files, and generates tables in either LaTeX or ASCII
(which of course can be imported into any word processor). An
advanced version is in the works.
# http://nber.org/~gelbach/
13.4.3 TeX and LaTeX References
[where to start with TeX & LaTeX]
TeX is a typesetting system that was developed by the computer
scientist Donald Knuth of Stanford. To make it easier to use, a very
extensive set of TeX macros, known as LaTeX, have been developed.
Versions of it are used widely, if not exclusively, for word
processing in math and physics. In part, this stems from the ease in
which one can type equations. In addition, LaTeX has an interesting
philosophy: you design the logical structure of the document, and
LaTex handles the physical output. This makes a number of things
easier. For instance, if you wish to add a section, you don't have to
retype all the other section numbers; LaTeX handles this
automatically. Or, if you decide to change the presentation style of
equations, you can make the change in one place, rather than equation
by equation.
For TeX, let me cite two references. The first one is the classic,
while the second one contains information on the huge number of
macros and ancillary programs for TeX.
The TeXbook, Donald Knuth, Addison Wesley, 1984, ISBN 0-201-13447-0,
paperback 0-201-13448-9
Making TeX Work, Norman Walsh, O'Reilly and Associates, 1994, ISBN
1-56592-051-1.
For LaTex, let me also give two references. The first is the second
edition of the classic LaTeX reference. It covers the new version of
LaTeX, LaTeX2e. To be honest, I often find its technical appendix to
be of more use than the chapters. The second reference is designed as
a very detailed companion for the first.
LaTeX, a Document Preparation System, 2nd ed., Leslie Lamport,
Addison Wesley, 1994, ISBN 0-201-52983-1
The LaTeX Companion, Michel Gossens, Frank Mittelbach, and Alexander
Samarin, Addison-Wesley, 1994, ISBN 0-201-54199-8.
Finally, the following URL is for the "TeX Users Group" (TUG), which
offers a wealth of information on TeX and LaTeX.
# http://www.tug.org/
13.4.4 TeX Macros for Economics and TeX/LaTeX Sources
[generate TeX in styles for different journals]
Since I am not a TeX user, let me defer to George Greenwade <bed_
gdg@SHSU.edu>, who is. In fact, he is an expert. This section was
written by George and I simply copied, with a bit of editing, from
his posting to the Usenet newsgroup sci.econ.research as archived by
Forrest Smith.
The TeX macros written by Hal Varian, known as "VerTeX" (for
Visualize Economic Reports in TeX; release 1.0 of August, 1987) are
available for ftp retrieval from this site:
Also, the command: "SENDME VERTEX" in the body of a mail message to
FILESERV@SHSU.edu will retrieve the set of 19 files via e-mail.
I have to stress that these are NOT LaTeX styles; they are TeX
macros. VerTeX's syntax differs somewhat from the more standard
LaTeX-type commands; however, the syntax used in VerTeX is consistent
throughout VerTeX (and, as an occasional user, I feel comfortable in
saying they are relatively easy to follow, understand, and use). The
file set is pretty well documented and demonstrated. Varian has very
roughly hinted that he might have an interest at some later date in
rewriting these to use LaTeX and BibTeX (probably after the release
of LaTeX3 -- since I am quite involved in that project, I feel safe
in telling you not to hold your breath on LaTeX3; I'll be surprised
if it's out before 1996).
The present Visualize Economic Reports in TeX styles include:
# jpe.sty --- Journal of Polemical Economy
# jep.sty --- Journal of Economic Perspectives
# jet.sty --- Journal of Economic Theorems
# aer.sty --- Armenian Economic Review
# ecnmet.sty --- Economagica
# restud.sty --- Review for Economic Students
# qje.sty --- Quartered Journal of Economics
I'll assume that you can figure out which of these look like what
"real" journals. When you use one of these styles, VerTeX will
automatically adjust the style of the document and the style of the
references to be more-or-less consistent with the journal style. Some
fine tuning may be needed, but the output generally looks pretty
good.
As the US coordinator of the CTAN (a collection now in excess of a
gigabyte), if you have any TeX-related files which you would like to
have included, please contact me.
# ftp://ftp.TeX.ac.UK/ctan/tex-archive/macros/plain/contrib/vertex/
13.4.5 T3, Scientific Word and WorkPlace (TCI Software)
[commercial TeX and Maple products]
This company has three products: T3, Scientific Word, which generates
LaTeX, and Scientific WorkPlace 2.0, which integrates Scientific Word
with the Maple symbolic computation system. At this site you can read
about this company and their products, and order and obtain support
(including program updates).
# http://www.mackichan.com
13.4.6 Using Xdvi for Presentations
[generate presentations with freely available software]
This page, by Allin Cottrell of Wake Forrest University, describes
how one can use TeX or LaTeX and xdvi to create computer
presentations. The results offer roughly the same functionality as
PowerPoint: incremental display of material, embedded graphics, and
even movies.
# http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/xdvi/
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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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