Combining observations in a panel-data structure

[CornelisV]

Hi guys,

I am currently working on my thesis, which involves panel data. I was able to get the data into EViews (8, 64-bit version) correctly, but now I'm stuck at the next step. The thing I'm trying to do is to combine different observations, that have a different cross-section identifier, but other similar characteristics. To make things clear, I used EViews Gareth's second file he uses to explain how to import panel data (http://forums.eviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=74&f=7). As you can see if you open the file, I added the variable "Number", which contains either a 0 or a 1. What I want to do, is to show the sum of the GDP for two countries IF they have the same number AND date. In this example, that should result in combining USA + Canada and UK + Australia. Now this is a very easy example where only 2 combinations are possible, but my dataset allows for multiple combinations (creating option straddles to be specific).

Do you have any suggestions on how to solve this issue? To be clear, I don't want you to do my "homework", but I need some guidance on this. If you think EViews is not suitable for this type of programming, please let me know.

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Cornelis

[EViews Gareth]

Open that file in EViews.

Open up the GDP series.

Click on View->Descriptive Statistics->Stats by Classification

Select "Sum" as the statistic (and deselect the others). Enter "year number" in the series/group to classify by box. Hit ok.