Most of the features on this menu are new in Version 2.0, and allow you to make adjustments without having to quit and restart the CATS procedure. They also give the user more control over many aspects of the program than in Verison 1.

For example, you can change the model (including the deterministic variable structure, the inclusion of seasonal dummies, and the lag structure), control the sample range (by setting starting and ending dates, using a sample "dummy" series, or directly excluding specific observations), display a summary of the model, or set any of the following preferences:

The I(1) Menu
Here is the I(1) menu

Most of these options will be familiar to those of you who have used CATS 1.0. These form the core functionality of the I(1) analysis capabilties in CATS 2.0, which includes determing and setting the cointegration rank and testing hypotheses on the structure of the elements of the Pi matrix

The I(2) Menu
Here is the I(2) menu

(2) analysis is a new feature in CATS 2.0. The menu operations allow you to set the ranks of the model, test restrictions on both the Tau and Beta matrices, and more.

The Graphics Menu
Here is the Graphics menu

As you can see, the Graphics menu provides quick access to a wide selection of graphs. In addition to offering more graphs than were available in CATS 1.0, Version 2 also allows the user to customize the appearance of the graphs. The "Customized Graphics" operation toggles between the default settings, and your customized settings, which you access via the "Settings" operation:

The Automated Tests Menu

As the name implies, the Automated Tests menu provides access to several important tests, most of which CATS can perform with little or no input required from the user. Here's the menu:

Most of these are faily explanatory. One major new feature is the CATSmining operation. The name is a twist on the phrase "data mining", implying an automated routine for analyzing data. In this case, the CATSmining routine can automatically identify and restrict the cointegrating space, given a user-specified cointegrating rank. You also have the option of supplying user-defined relations to be used in addition to those selected by the automatic procedure. The Settings operation gives you control of many aspects of the CATSmining process.

Finally, the Load Model operation allows you to load into memory a CATS model saved in a previous session (the ability to save and reload models is new in Version 2).

The Misc Menu
The Misc menu (short for miscellaneous) provides ten more useful features:

The first two display the short run and MA representations for the current model.

The next item, Structural MA Model, is a major new addition that allows you to define a structural model and plot the resulting impulse response functions.

Other operations allow you to save the generated data to various types of file (or display the data in a spreadsheet-style window), save the model for use in a later session, and more.