On Fri, 11 Feb 2011, Summers, Peter wrote:
Thanks for the clarifications. One thing though -- if I change
the data structure to stacked cross sections, the data get
re-organized as expected. But if I then say it's stacked cross
sections a second time, the second re-organization doesn't
restore the original stacked time series.
I believe gretl does this correctly, as per the user's
instructions. (I have constructed and manipulated some dummy panel
datasets to verify this.)
But you will have to pay very careful attention to your
specification of how many cross-sectional units and how many time
periods compose the panel (bearing in mind what you're claiming to
be the current organization). You can flip easily back and forth
between the two structures only if the numbers of units and
periods are the same. Otherwise it is easy to scramble the dataset
much like a Rubik's cube.
A more foolproof method is to ensure that the dataset contains two
variables that serve as indices of the unit and the period, and to
employ the "Use index variables" method in the panel structure
dialog. (Stata, for instance, only accepts this method for
defining a panel.)
Allin Cottrell