file format
A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free.
Some file formats ...
is a procedure to encode information for storage in a computer file.
The databank format is an
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
file format for
time series
In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Exa ...
econometric
Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
analysis. The format was popularized by MicroTSP.
The databank format is used for data of a fixed annual sample frequency (annual, quarterly, monthly) and for undated data. It is supported by TSP,
EViews
EViews is a statistical package for Microsoft Windows, Windows, used mainly for time-series oriented econometrics, econometric analysis. It is developed by Quantitative Micro Software (QMS), now a part of IHS Inc., IHS. Version 1.0 was released ...
, and many other
econometric
Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
applications. Traditionally the name of the file ends with extension .db.
By inspection, the databank file is seen to be an ASCII text file containing a single data series. A databank file is formatted in a linewise structure. Initial comment lines begin with a quote. For dated series, the next three lines specify the frequency, start date, and end date. (For undated series, the next two lines specify the start index and end index.) The remaining lines are data: one observation per line, or NA if missing.
Closely related is th open databank format a modest extension and more detailed
specification of the traditional databank format. A conforming reader and writer is provided b EconPy
References
Bergen, Daniel and Jeff Miran, ''NEBR Macro history Database'', NEBR, 2001
Hall, Robert E., and Li lien, David, ''micro Tsp Version 6.5 User's Manual'', Quantitative Micro Software, 1989.
Isaac, Alan G., "Open-Databank Format" Computer file formats