EViews

EViews
Name	EViews
Developer	IHS Markit (now S&P Global)
Released	1994
Latest release	2024
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Genre	Time series analysis, Econometrics, Statistical software
License	Proprietary

EViews EViews is a commercial statistical package for time series analysis, econometrics, and forecasting widely used in academic, central banking, and corporate research settings. It competes with packages such as Stata, R (programming language), Python (programming language), MATLAB, and SAS and is used alongside data sources like Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve System, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. The software emphasizes a combination of point-and-click interaction and programmable scripting to produce reproducible analyses for users at institutions such as Harvard University, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, Bank of England, and European Central Bank.

Overview

EViews provides tools for time series, cross-section, and panel data analysis targeted at practitioners in finance, macroeconomics, and policy research. Typical users include researchers at National Bureau of Economic Research, analysts at Goldman Sachs, economists at OECD, and academics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Princeton University. It integrates forecasting workflows used in organisations like Federal Reserve Bank of New York, International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, and Asian Development Bank with visualization inspired by software such as Microsoft Excel and Tableau.

History and Development

Originally developed in the early 1990s by a team associated with Quantitative Micro Software and later commercialised by IHS Inc. (acquired by S&P Global), the package evolved through successive releases to incorporate modern estimation techniques and graphical capabilities. Key milestones in its evolution reflect trends in applied work at institutions like National Bureau of Economic Research, methodological contributions from scholars at Cowles Foundation, and interoperability demands from vendors such as Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg L.P.. Major updates paralleled developments in software ecosystems represented by SAS Institute, StataCorp, and open-source communities around R (programming language) and Python (programming language).

Features and Functionality

EViews offers a suite of features for statistical modeling, forecasting, and data visualization used by practitioners at Bank for International Settlements, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. It supports unit root testing referenced in studies at University of California, Berkeley, cointegration techniques employed in research from Yale University, and Vector Autoregression (VAR) modeling common in work at Federal Reserve Board. Its functionality includes automated model selection akin to procedures discussed at International Statistical Institute, impulse-response analysis used in papers from NBER, and volatility modeling comparable to implementations by CBOE researchers.

Data Handling and Formats

EViews handles native workfiles and imports from formats and sources such as Microsoft Excel, CSV, Stata, SAS, SPSS, and databases accessible via ODBC. Data exchange capabilities are designed for integration with providers like Bloomberg L.P., Refinitiv, FactSet, and public datasets from United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and national agencies such as United States Census Bureau and Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). It supports frequency conversion, calendar alignment used by statisticians at Eurostat, and panel construction consistent with datasets held by Harvard Dataverse and ICPSR.

Modeling and Estimation Methods

The software implements estimation methods used in literature from Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences laureates and leading econometricians at London School of Economics, University of Oxford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Supported techniques include Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) applied in studies at University of Chicago, Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) used in work from Princeton University, Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) referenced in research at Columbia University, cointegration procedures by authors associated with University of California, San Diego, and state-space modeling paralleling implementations at Federal Reserve Board of Governors. It also provides ARCH/GARCH volatility models as in analyses from CBOE Research, panel estimators comparable to those used at World Bank Group, and non-linear estimation routines cited in publications from Institute for Fiscal Studies.

User Interface and Scripting

The product combines a graphical user interface resembling tools developed by Microsoft Corporation with a scripting language that enables batch processing, reproducible workflows, and automation similar to macros in SAS Institute and scripting in Stata. The command language supports object-oriented commands used in projects at University of Pennsylvania, and program files are commonly exchanged among collaborators at INSEAD, Wharton School, and Columbia Business School. Integration options allow interaction with external languages and platforms including R (programming language), Python (programming language), and MATLAB toolchains adopted in labs at MIT Media Lab and Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Licensing and Versions

EViews is distributed under proprietary licensing with academic, government, and corporate tiers, comparable to licensing models used by SAS Institute, StataCorp, and MathWorks. Major releases have been adopted by central banks such as Bank of England, research institutions like National Bureau of Economic Research, and firms including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Support and distribution channels involve vendors and resellers similar to Amazon Web Services software marketplaces and institutional procurement frameworks at universities such as University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan.

Category:Statistical software