X13-arima-seats

[hardmann]

Dear Tom:

I have used the new WinRats 10.1. I extensivly use the dlm and x11. I hope these could be enhanced. X11 seems weak than other software. I suggest that Rats should update and enhance the instruction of X11, adding the moving holidays for other country, alike genhol in X13-arima-seats.

Best Regard
Hardmann

[TomDoan]

There really isn't need for a special operation for that because RATS already has a number of calendar functions which can compute the dates of holidays which float on the secular calendar. See

https://estima.com/docs/RATS%2010%20Use ... df#page=48

What you do with that depends upon the situation. For instance, the U.S. Labor Day dummy in X12/X13 is actually a whole collection of choices depending upon how many days prior to Labor Day are affected by the "end-of-summer effect". For instance,

cal(m) 1991:1
all 2023:12
compute w=10.0
set dlabor = laborday=%floatingdate(%year(t),9,1,1),$
   %if(%month(t)==9,laborday/w,%if(%month(t)==8,1-laborday/w,0))

creates a dummy which assumes there is some constant additive effect for the 10 days up to and including Labor Day (first Monday in September). It spreads the 1.0 weight across August and September depending upon how many of those 10 days are in each month. You would get a different dummy for W=7 or W=14. I would not be surprised if different series have had different values chosen for W.

Most religious holidays are based upon lunar/solar calendars, and those are much more complicated, and different branches of religions can have different interpretations. (The secular date of a new moon or solar equinox can depend upon where in the world you live).

[hardmann]

Dear Tom:

Thanks

Hardmann