STAMP

STAMP is a statistical / econometric software system for time series models with unobserbed components such as trend, seasonal, cycle and irregular. It provides a user-friendly environment for the analysis, modelling and forecasting of time series. Estimation and signal extraction is carried out using state space methods and Kalman filtering. However, STAMP is set up in an easy-to-use form which enables the user to concentrate on model selection and interpretation. STAMP 8 is an integrated part of the OxMetrics modular software system for data analysis with excellent data manipulation, graphical and batch facilities.

The full name of STAMP is Structural Time Series Analyser, Modeller and Predictor. Structural time series models are formulated directly in terms of components of interest and also therefore often referred to as unobserved component time series models. Such models find application in many subjects, including economics, finance, sociology, management science, biology, geography, meteorology and engineering. STAMP bridges the gap between the theory and its application; providing the necessary tool to make interactive structural time series modelling available for empirical work. Another such tool is SsfPack, which provides more general procedures for the programming interface Ox.

STAMP uses the Kalman filter and related algorithms to fit unobserved component time series models. The current version 8.30 of STAMP provides a flexible and user-friendly environment for modelling and forecasting time series. The new version is updated for OxMetrics 6.1 and it therefore provides even higher standards in program functionality: by clicking the mouse a few times, everyone is able to start with a full exploratory, statistical or econometric analysis of the time series at hand using the powerful capabilities of the STAMP 8.30.

Earlier versions of the program were written by Andrew Harvey and Simon Peters, while the data management side was dealt with by Bahram Pesaran. These projects were supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. Version 5 was entirely rewritten in C by the current authors of STAMP. Much of the data management and the graphical interface of STAMP 5 was shared with the PcGive 7 and 8 programs of Jurgen A. Doornik and David F. Hendry. STAMP 6 was the first version of STAMP in which the front-end program GiveWin is separate from the econometric module STAMP. Other modules included PcGive, TSP (by TSP International) and X12Arima for GiveWin (based on X12-ARIMA by the US Census Bureau). The current version STAMP 8.30 is fully integrated with OxMetrics 6.1.

Authors

Siem Jan Koopman

is Professor of Econometrics at the VU University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam. He is author of the textbooks Time Series Analysis by State Space Methods (with J. Durbin) and An Introduction to State Space Time Series Analysis (with J. Commandeur). He fullfills editorial duties at the Journal of Applied Econometrics and the Journal of Forecasting.

Andrew C. Harvey

is Professor of Econometrics at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of the textbooks Time SeriesModels and Econometric Analysis of Time Series. He has also published the monograph Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman filter. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and the British Academy. He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Time Series Analysis.

Jurgen A. Doornik

is a Research Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, UK. He is the main developer of OxMetrics, the originator of Ox, an object-oriented matrix programming language, and author (with David F. Hendry) of PcGive and PcFiml.

Neil Shephard

is Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Research Director of the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance. He has published the monograph Stochastic Volatility. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy, Nuffield College and is an Associate Editor of Econometrica.

Website

The STAMP website at http://stamp-software.com is designed and maintained by S.J. Koopman and K.M. Lee. Please send questions, comments and remarks about the website to klee.feweb@gmail.com, with "STAMP 8" in the subject line to avoid spam-filtering.