Econometric Software: A User's View

Abstract

For the social scientist, software is a tool, not an end in itself. My objective in this review is to help practicing economists decide which tool will best get the task done. To do this, I report on how seven programs performed on each of six different econometric projects. I focus on Limdep, RATS, SAS, Stata, SST, and TSP and I more briefly review Gauss, which is a rather different product. Comments on other aspects of the programs are sprinkled throughout.