Using this data is a medium-size hassle.  I haven't done it for  
years, but my dim recollection is that I first unpacked the EBCDIC  
data using a demo version of an EBCDIC converter that I googled, and  
then used Sam Oularis's very nice ($50) extraction program to get it  
into Stata.  I might be recalling the IFS rather than DOT, but I  
think they have similar file formats.

A better way is just to used Kristian Gleditsch's data, http:// 
privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~ksg/exptradegdp.html

-Richard


On Jul 13, 2007, at 7:22 AM, Jessica Fortin wrote:

> Greetings all,
>
> I have downloaded a data set from the IMF (Direction of Trade  
> yearly data 1948-1998) however the file is in Card Image or Logical  
> Record Length format.
>
> Does anyone have experience about how one may transfer these files  
> in Stata or R, or what to do with the COBOL Funpack program?
>
> Thanks!
> Jessica
>
> ********************
> Department of Political Science
> McGill University

-------------------------------------------------
Richard Sherman
Department of Political Science, Leiden University
Leiden, Netherlands
http://homepage.mac.com/richard.sherman