EQV Instruction

EQV list of series (usually listed by number)

< text card > valid names for the series separated by blanks

EQV (short for EQuiValence) attaches a name to a numbered series. It can also assign an alternate name to an existing series. It is largely obsolete.

Parameters

list of series

list of series to be given names or labels.

Text Card

This is the list of the names, separated by blanks, that you want to assign to the list of series. The names on this card must be legal variable names.

Description

EQV used to be an important instruction, and you may see it in programs written for RATS version 3 or earlier. Now, if you need an instruction like this, LABELS will probably be the better choice. While EQV assigns series names, which can be used on input and output, LABELS only sets output labels, which offers several advantages:

•Series names (done with EQV) must be unique: you can’t have two series called RESIDS or FORECAST, but any number of series can share a label.

•Labels are not subject to the restrictions put on symbolic names—you can use any combination of characters (up to sixteen).

•You can set labels in a more flexible fashion. For example, you can use string expressions and LABEL variables.

Example

open data g7oecd.rat

cal(q) 1956:1

allocate 9 1997:4

eqv 1 to 9

usashort frashort gbrshort usagbond fragbond gbrgbond $

usardiff frardiff gbrrdiff

data(format=rats) / 1 to 6

do i=1,3

set i+6 = (i+3){0}-i{0}

end do i

This uses ALLOCATE and EQV to produce a uniform numbering relationship between the short and long rates of three countries. The DO loop uses this relationship to construct series of differences for each of the countries.