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TSP / What is TSP? / Features / Requirements

 

 

Comparing TSP & Eviews

 

In January 2001, A new version (4) of EViews was announced, which includes many new features such as analytic derivatives and stochastic simulation. Therefore this comparison is out of date.

The main difference between TSP (sold by TSP International) and EViews 3.1 is TSP is a command-driven language with more econometrics, while EViews has an easier-to-learn graphical user interface (GUI).

SOME HISTORY

In 1981, microTSP was developed in partnership with our company. At the time, it was not possible to port the full mainframe TSP to micro-computers, so a smaller version called microTSP was written in BASIC for the Apple II. In 1983, QMS became a separate company that developed and sold microTSP on its own.

In 1985, it became feasible to put the full TSP on what were then called personal computers, and TSP International released PC TSP. This program has exactly the same commands as mainframe TSP, with a simple interactive or batch mode interface. Both the econometric features and the PC interface of the program have evolved greatly since 1985.

In 1995, QMS released a completely new version of MicroTSP for Windows 3.1/Mac OS called EViews that incorporated a GUI interface.

TSP ADVANTAGES

As for "more econometrics", TSP has:

  1. Faster nonlinear estimators (using analytic derivatives generated internally by TSP; Eviews uses mostly numeric derivatives).
  2. More limited dependent variable estimators (Sample Selection, Multinomial and Conditional Logit with > 2 choices; both programs have Binary Probit).
  3. GMM with user selection of instruments and weighting matrix, easier-to-use matrix algebra, more powerful multi-equation solve/simulation, additional unit root and cointegration tests, exact ML AR1 and ARIMA, LIML, Panel data (fixed/random effects) for large and unbalanced panels (EViews does small panels - up to a couple of hundred individuals). For more information, please read the detailed comparison of TSP 4.5 and Eviews 3.1 written by Clint Cummins.

TSP is also "source compatible" across OS/2, MacOS, Unix workstation, and mainframe versions. You can run the same batch file on any TSP platform. EViews 1.1 only ran on Microsoft Windows and MacOS, while 3.1 ran exclusively under Windows.

EVIEWS ADVANTAGES

One of the things Eviews has that TSP does not is regression with ARMA(p,q) errors; TSP has AR(p) but not MA, although this is in development and can be done now using TSP programming commands (see the TSP examples library). EViews also has more facilities for handling string (character) variables.

COMPETITIVE UPGRADE

 

If you want to switch from EViews, we offer a "competitive upgrade" discount of $200 off the full price (for the Professional version on PCs). Contact TSP International for more information or visit the order page.

 

If you have any questions or comments about TSP please send an email to info@tspintl.com.

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