Just in case anyone is interested at how I approached this in the end:
I created a matrix with the inflation rates and then looped on the whole data set performing the multiplications.
the code is attached. it is not working perfectly but i think there problem is with the data and there is some excess manipulation in the code due to the format of the data i am working with
matrix INFL = { 515, 438.35, 367.83, 303.24 ; 252.1, 202.28, 159.59, 130.99 ; \
107.75, 87.03, 70.13, 45.06 ;
31.64, 20.25, 12.75, 8.27 ; 6.18, 4.22, 3.09, \
2.9 ; 2.85, 2.67, 2.59, 2.42 ; 2.32, 2.23, 2.18, 2.09 ; 2, 1.92, 1.87, 1.79 ;\
1.68, 1.6, 1.55, 1.49 ; 1.44, 1.38, 1.31, 1.26 ; 1.22, 1.15, 1.08, 1.07} # inflation figures, each year is a row
smpl full
genr monthly_w_c = (V4 < 6) ? V49/1000 : V49
genr Adapt_wage = monthly_w_c
genr k = 0 # will be used to store the year
genr l = 0 # will be used to store the quarter
genr br=$nobs
loop j=1..br
genr m = j
k = V4[j]
genr kr = (k < 10) ? k : (k=90) ? 10 : 11
l = V3[j]
genr lr = (l < 5) ? l : 4 # there is at least one quarter var that is 7 for some reason
Adapt_wage[j] = INFL[kr,lr]*Adapt_wage[j]
endloop
"I often see problems in the world and wonder
why someone doesn't fix them. Then I realize that I am someone, and that makes me feel bad because it is all my fault."
http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/fixing_the_world/
From: Raz Lev <raz_lev@yahoo.com>
To: gretl-users@lists.wfu.edu
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 3:27:00 PM
Subject: [Gretl-users] Correcting for inflation
Hello again,
I am trying to convert data to account for inflation.
I have an excel (or variable, whichever is better) with the cumulative inflation for every quarter between 1980 and 1990 (my period of interest) and in gretl data about salaries that contain, amongst else, the wage, and the year and the quarter in which the sample was taken.
What I want to do is to multiply all the wages from samples from quarter i, year j with the right inflation factor.
Any hints on how to do this?
thanks very much,
Raz
"I often see problems in the world and wonder why someone doesn't fix them. Then I realize that I am someone, and that makes me feel bad because it is all my fault."
http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/fixing_the_world/