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st: RE: a variable is decreased by 1 ?


From   "De Swerdt, Kris" <[email protected]>
To   <[email protected]>
Subject   st: RE: a variable is decreased by 1 ?
Date   Mon, 8 Jan 2007 14:18:00 +0100

Gijs,

Is it possible that the variable pid is of storage type double and pidold of storage type float?
Maybe you can try:
	gen double pidold=pid

Kris

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gijs Dekkers
Sent: maandag 8 januari 2007 14:06
To: [email protected]
Subject: st: a variable is decreased by 1 ?

Dear fellow Stata-users,

I really would appreciate some help with this strange problem...

I have a panel dataset, with the individual number 'pid' and the year 
variabele 'jaar'. The variable pidnew is an alternative 
individual-identification number. This variabel, and 'jaar' don't really 
do anything, but I include it to show that the individual does not 
changes in what follows.

So, the starting dataset is:

 . list pid pidnew jaar if (pid==17025101 & jaar==2002)

            +--------------------------+
             |      pid       pidnew   jaar  |
             |--------------------------|
 10597. | 17025101       62   2002 |
            +--------------------------+

So this is the data line of individual 17025101 in the year 2002. Now I 
create a copy ('pidold') of this individual identification number,

. gen pidold = pid

. list pid pidold pidnew jaar if (pid==17025101 & jaar==2002)

            +-------------------------------------+
             |      pid         pidold       pidnew   jaar |
             |-------------------------------------|
 10502. | 17025101   1.70e+07       62   2002 |
            +-------------------------------------+

The resulting variable is difficult to read, for it is in the scientific 
notation. So I change the format...

. format pid pidold epid %14.0f 

. list pid pidold pidnew jaar if (pid==17025101 & jaar==2002)

            +-------------------------------------+
            |      pid         pidold           pidnew   jaar |
            |-------------------------------------|
 10597. | 17025101   17025100       62   2002 |
            +-------------------------------------+

And all of a sudden, the variabele 'pidold', which is supposed to be 
equal to 'pid' has decreased by one! Or, which is more likely, the 'gen 
pidold = pid' has not done what it should have done, because the format 
of pidold was set so that information was lost. However, I cannot set a 
format of a variable prior to its existence.

I have also tried juggling with 'recast' and different formats, but 
nothing seems to help.

I would really appreciate your help in finding a solution!

Gijs







-- 
Gijs Dekkers
Attach� Federal Planning Bureau
Research fellow CESO, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Kunstlaan 47-49 Avenue des Arts
1000 Brussels, Belgium
phone ++32/(0)2/5077413
fax  7373
skype gdekkers2209
[email protected], [email protected]

 

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