Creating 5-year averages from Panel Data

[robob408]

Hi!

I have data on 40 countries over 20 years (1991-2010) on a number of variables including GDP and interest rate. I would like to create 5-year non-overlapping averages for each variable, i.e. instead of 20 observations for each country and variable, I would like to have 4 observations for each country and variable: One that is an average of the years 1991-1995, one 1996-2000 and so on. How can I make this happen?

I'm using Eviews 7.

Thanks!

[EViews Gareth]

Create a new page in your workfile with a 5 year frequency. Then copy the data over from the annual page to the new 5 year page. When doing the copy and paste, use Paste Special, so you can choose the frequency conversion method, and use "average" as the method.

[Zjasmine]

When I follow these steps I get the average for all countries per period, instead of seperate averages for each country. How can I get 5-year averages for each country?

Thanks!

[EViews Gareth]

Make the new page a panel with a five year frequency.