external function in dynare 4.2

[jpfeifer]

Note that the init-file above has been updated to also work without prefiltering.

[mak]

Hello,
Please need help. Using above posts, as exercise, I introduced in the example model fs2000 a some counter. For it I initialized parameter counter=0 in fs2000.mod and in entered equation counter = counter + 1 in _steadstate.m. However, at the end of estimation counter takes a small number, such as 8. I expected a large number. Please explain why the counter takes a small number, where is mistake (I use 4.4.3).
best regards, mak

[jpfeifer]

The reason is that Dynare estimates a different set of parameters that does not include counter. While counter is updated within every step of estimation, the value for counter is not stored and returned to the next iteration, because there is no reason for doing so. counter is not a function of the estimated parameters. As counter is not estimated, its value is basically kept at the level set at the beginning of estimation.