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Econometrics Procedures
 

SMC Procedure

PARAMETERS Statement

  • PARAMETERS parameter-specification <,…, parameter-specification> < / options > ;

  • PARMS parameter-specification <,…, parameter-specification> < / options > ;

The PARAMETERS (or PARMS) statement lists the names of the model parameters and specifies the initial value of each parameter. Whether the PARAMETERS statement is required depends on whether the SUBMITMODEL statement is specified: If you specify the SUBMITMODEL statement, the PARAMETERS statement is ignored; if you omit the SUBMITMODEL statement, the PARAMETERS statement is required.

A parameter-specification has the following general form, where name identifies the parameter and value provides a single initial value for the parameter:

  • name = value

Multiple parameter-specifications must be separated by commas or spaces. You can specify the following options after a forward slash (/):

LOWER=(number1 number2 …)
LOWER=(number)

specifies the lower bounds of the specified parameters. The list can contain exactly one number, which is taken to be the lower bound of all the listed parameters in the statement, or it must contain as many values as the number of parameters specified. A missing value, denoted by a period (.), is a permissible value, which signifies that the parameter has no lower bound.

UPPER=(number1 number2 …)
UPPER=(number)

specifies the upper bounds of the specified parameters. The list can contain exactly one number, which is taken to be the upper bound of all the listed parameters in the statement, or it must contain as many values as the number of parameters specified. A missing value, denoted by a period (.), is a permissible value, which signifies that the parameter has no upper bound.

The parameter names are case-insensitive, and the following conditions must be satisfied:

  • The parameter names must not have duplicates.

  • The parameter names must not contain the dot (".") symbol.

  • "_t" or "_time" is a reserved name in PROC SMC. "_t" or "_time" (case-insensitive) must not be used as a parameter name.

  • "dft_" is a reserved prefix in PROC SMC. The variable and parameter names must not start with "dft_" (case-insensitive).

For example, the following PARMS statement specifies three parameters and sets their initial values: 

parms phi=0.9 beta=1 gamma=0.4;
Last updated: July 09, 2026