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Win and MacOS are both supported.
Win: Microsoft Excel97 or greater with Solver is needed.
Mac: Microsoft Excel98 or greater with Solver is needed. Buttons may not look as nice, but functionality is identical.
The instructions below assume Excel's Solver has been successfully installed and that the user is familiar with Solver. If not, please make sure you read the Solver.doc file in the archive of materials provided.
The Comparative Statics Wizard add-in is the CSWiz.xla file.
Download the CSWiz ZIP file. From your desktop, double-click on the archive to expand it. Launch Excel. Execute Tools: Add-Ins to get the Add-In Manager dialog box; click the Browse (or Select) button and navigate to the CSWiz.xla file and Open it.
Once installed, execute Tools: Wizards: CompStatics to access the Comparative Statics Wizard.
If these instructions are clear, go to the download section now; if not, continue reading below.
Reviewing Excel Add-Ins
You are already familiar with Excel Add-Ins since Solver is an example of an add-in. An add-in file, usually named filename.xla ("a" for add-in), is a way for Excel to access procedures and algorithms that are not part of the core Excel program. Add-ins provide additional functionality from within the familiar Excel interface.
Excel's Solver is proprietary and ships with the Microsoft Office Suite. The Comparative Statics Wizard add-in was written by Humberto Barreto (barretoh@wabash.edu) of Wabash College. I retain all rights, but allow free educational use of the software.
The Add-In Manager, a dialog box from which you control the add-ins available to Excel, can be accessed by executing Tools: Add-Ins. Try it now in order to see which, if any, add-ins you have installed.
Notice the Browse or Select button in the Add-In Manager dialog box. Excel Add-Ins are usually contained in the Library folder of the Office application folder. Folder names can be changed so you may have a different folder name (e.g., Excel Add Ins). In any case, there should be a folder on your hard drive where Excel stores its add-ins. If you navigate to an add-in file on a floppy disk, CD-ROM, or network folder, Excel will ask you if you want to copy it to the Library folder where the other add-ins are stored. This is a good idea.
Different Excel installations will have different add-ins available. You can find out which files are available in the Library folder because they appear in the list of available add-ins. However, just because an add-in is available does not mean it is installed. The add-in must have a check mark next to its name before Excel can access the procedures and algorithms in the add-in.
In order to use the Comparative Statics Wizard as an Excel add-in, you will use the Add-In Manager to get the add-in file and make it available to Excel, then you will check the box in order to install the add-in. Both steps, making available and installing the add-in, are necessary for you to able to use the Comparative Statics Wizard.
The good news is that this need only be done once. Unless you explicitly uninstall the add-in (by clicking off the check mark), Excel will install it automatically when you launch Excel.
Downloading the Comparative Statics Wizard Add-In
Step 1: Download the CSWiz add-in by clicking and saving the CSWiz.zip file to your hard drive: Download CSWiz.zip (166 KB).
Step 2: Once it's downloaded, unzip the downloaded file. Note the location where the extracted CSWiz.xla file is placed since you will be needing it shortly. Unzipping will place four files on your computer:
| CSWiz.xla | The add-in file |
| CompStatics.doc | Instructions on installing and using the CSWiz.xla add-in |
| CompStatics.xls | An example workbook |
| Solver.doc | Instructions on installing and using Excel's Solver |
If you are unable to download the add-in, please send me an e-mail at barretoh@wabash.edu.
Installing the Comparative Statics Wizard Add-In
Once you have the CSWiz.xla add-in file on your computer, you are ready to use Excel's Add-In Manager to install it. The instructions are in the CompStatics.doc file in the CSWiz.zip file that you downloaded.
It is important that you correctly configure Excel's security. If security is improperly set, the add-in will not work. The CompStatics.doc file explains exactly how, with step-by-step instructions and screenshots.
Do not double-click or directly open the CSWiz.xla add-in file. Excel will open the file, but it will be improperly installed and may not work correctly. Instead, follow the instructions in the CompStatics.doc file that explain how to install the add-in via the Add-In Manager.
Conclusion
Once it's installed, to run the Comparative Statics Wizard, click Tools on the main menu, then select the Wizard option, and choose Comp Statics.
The next step is to create an optimization problem or equilibrium model within Excel in order to put the CS Wiz add-in to work. The Examples section of this site has a variety of applications.
Humberto Barreto
Department of Economics
Wabash College
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
Email: barretoh@wabash.edu
Phone: 765.361.6315
FAX: 765.361.6277
Last Updated: 16 Jan 2004
[Description and Rationale] [Download and Installation] [Examples]