DBANK for Windows at the STATLAB:

CITIBASE (DRI Basic Economics)
1946-February 1994 in Dbank format

On the StatLab workstations, start the DBANK program:

• Click the Dbank for Windows Icon in the Windows Applications group.
• Double-click oldciti.mdb to open the 1946-February 1994 version of the data in Dbank format. For newer versions of CITIBASE (now called DRI Basic Economics), search StatCat.
• Once you have selected a dataset, you will see a window of available groups and a window of available series within each group (in Citibase, each group consists of the first two letters of the series). You can select the group you wish to view by clicking on its letters, and then select the individual series.

Searching for Series:

• If you don't know the code of the series you would like to retrieve, use: File/Query and enter a title word (i.e. GNP). A list of all series in the database with GNP in the title is displayed.
• If you know the first two letters of the code (i.e. gn), you can speed up the search with Group/Query which searches only the series in the current group (make gn the current group first!)
  Click with the left mouse button on a series code to see the title, frequency, and start and end dates.

• Printed lists of the series can be found in the DRI Basic Economics Data Dictionary at the Circulation Desk of the Social Science Library: Data Doc HC101 +D75 (LC).

Selecting Series and Tagging Series:

1. To select a single series, click on it using the left mouse button.
   To select several contiguous series, hold down the shift key and select the first and last series you wish to access, using the left mouse button.
   To select several non-contiguous series, hold down the control key while selecting the series using the left mouse button.
   Specific dates can be selected when exporting the series (see below).
2. Next, build a collection of series in the Tagged Series window for the dataset you wish to create. To "tag" the series you have selected, click the right mouse button or click on Series and tag. You must tag the variables in a group before moving on to another group or they will not be included in the dataset you are building. If you add variables and later want to remove them from the Tagged Series window, hightlight the series you want to untag and choose the "UNTAG" option in the TAGGED pull-down menu.

Exporting Tagged Series

The data in the series you have tagged can be exported using different formats, such as SAS, GAUSS, LOTUS, etc. Usually Dbank creates two files an ASCII file with the data (extension *.asc) and a program file which lets you import the data into your program (like a SAS *.sas file or GAUSS *.cmd file)

1. Select Tagged | Tools | Export.
2. Enter name of Output File.
3. Select the Format you want.
4. Edit the Bounds. Here is where you can select the exact dates of coverage you want in the output file.
5. Select Frequency.
6. Click at Do It.
7. If you want to export more series but to a different file, select File/Close to close the output file.

Other Features

Dbank for Windows lets you do statistics and plots on your tagged series. Take a look in the Tagged Menu. You can use the various PLOT commands under the Tools option. or you can click on the icon of a line graph on the button bar. You can view the Summary Statistics under the FILE menu, and select Transpose Table under the Tagged menu.
There are buttons for common tasks, move the mouse pointer on one of the button and a description is displayed.

Exit the DBANK program:

• Click at File/Exit.

lm: June 28, 1999