README.md
In dsem: Fit Dynamic Structural Equation Models

Package dsem fits dynamic structural equation models, which includes as nested submodels:

The model has several advantages:

It estimates direct, indirect, and total effects among system variables, including simultaneous and lagged effects and recursive (cyclic) dependencies
It can estimate the cumulative outcome from press or pulse experiments or initial conditions that differ from the stationary distribution of system dynamics
It estimates structural linkages as regression slopes while jointly imputing missing values and/or measurement errors
It is rapidly fitted as a Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) in a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM), with speed and asymptotics associated with each
It allows granular control over the number of parameters (and restrictions on parameters) used to structure the covariance among variables and over time,

dsem is specifically intended as a minimal implementation, and uses standard packages to simplify input/output formatting:

Input: time-series defined using class ts, with NA for missing values
Input: structural trade-offs specified using syntax defined by package sem
Output: visualizing estimated trade-offs using igraph
Output: access model output using standard S3-generic functions including summary, predict, residuals, simulate, and AIC