INIT initialization1 < , initialization2 …>;
The INIT statement sets initial values for parameters in the optimization.
Each initialization is written as a parameter or parameter list, followed by an optional equal sign (=), followed by a number:
parameter <=> number
Parameter names are as shown in the Parameter column of the "Parameter Estimates" table. If a parameter name contains a blank or some other special character (such as ’*’, ’-’,’(’, or ’)’), then you must use the internal name of the parameter in order to refer to that parameter in the INIT statement. For more information about how parameters are named in the INIT statement, see the section Parameter Naming Conventions for the RESTRICT, TEST, BOUNDS, and INIT Statements.
By default, initial values are determined by OLS regression. Initial values can be displayed with the ITPRINT option in the PROC statement.
If you also specify the BAYES statement, the INIT statement also initializes the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. In particular, the INIT statement does one of the following:
initializes the tuning phase (this also includes the PROPCOV= option)
initializes the sampling phase, if there is no tuning phase