compatibility issue in pool estimation between EV6 and EV7?

[orelius]

here's my issue. I've been working on a project that started in EV 6, and I'm now completing in EV7 (build Mar31 2010). In the attached workfile you'll find the poolobject poolusa_gap. This object was created and estimated in EV6. When I open the file and the object using EV7, it displays the estimation I last performed in EV6. When I do not change anything in the specs, options and other combo choices, and hit the estimate button in EV7, it returns an error 'selected robust covariance method not allowed for cross section SUR estimation.' However, the pool was created and estimated in EV6 without problems. Moreover, to my knowledge nothing has changed in the relevant estimation menu, option tabs etc between EV 6 and EV7. Indeed, when I run the pool system that crashed in EV7 on an EV6 machine, it performs the requested estimation without problems. Any idea what's going on. (I know it sounds confusing; just estimate the poolobject poolusa_gap in the attached workfile under both EV 6 and EV7, and you'll see what I mean.)

Jan Marc Berk

[EViews Glenn]

There are some issues of interpretation with the estimation method that you chose (cross-section SUR with PCSE standard errors) that we have been debating how to address. For the moment, we've decided to disallow the particular (quite rare) method that you previously selected. We do this reluctantly, because of compatibility issues such as the one you have encountered, but in the cases that we've disallowed, there should be very little effect on results.

You can continue to use the existing results (which only affect the estimated variance-covariance), or you can choose "ordinary" standard error calculations. As you might expect, using PCSE after SUR doesn't affect the estimated standard errors very much since the first stage already provides correction for the correlation structure. Thus, the "ordinary" results are quite close to your existing results.

Our apologies for any inconvenience.

[orelius]

I see your point, although some warning in the manual would have been helpful. Thanks for the quick response.