st: Merging Time-Invariant Characteristics Into A Panel Dataset

[Nick Baker <nb419@cam.ac.uk>]

Hi all,

I have data for many mutual funds giving returns in different time periods 
in a stata dataset that looks like follows:

FundID	Date	ret(t-1)	ret(t-2)
1	2006m1	.	.
1	2006m2	-12.38985	.
1	2006m3	-8.219995	-12.38985
1	2006m4	5.497518	-8.219995
1	2006m5	-0.9465399	5.497518
1	2006m6	2.219898	-0.9465399
2	2006m1	.	.
2	2006m2	10.39785	.
2	2006m3	9.54027	10.39785
2	2006m4	-5.947091	9.54027
2	2006m5	-2.846269	-5.947091
2	2006m6	-12.51931	-2.846269


In a second dataset I have time-invariant characteristics that apply to 
each fund in every time period:

fund	mgmtfee	perffee	 strategy
1	1.75	20	EM
2	2	20	EM

I want to find a way to merge these two datasets so that the time-invariant 
characteristics appear in each observation such as:

FundID	Date	ret(t-1)	ret(t-2)	mgmtfee	perffee	strategy
1	2006m1	.	.	                1.75	20	EM
1	2006m2	-12.38985	.	        1.75	20	EM
1	2006m3	-8.219995	-12.38985	1.75	20	EM
1	2006m4	5.497518	-8.219995	1.75	20	EM
1	2006m5	-0.9465399	5.497518	1.75	20	EM
1	2006m6	2.219898	-0.9465399	1.75	20	EM
2	2006m1	.	.	                2	20	EM
2	2006m2	10.39785	.	        2	20	EM
2	2006m3	9.54027	10.39785	        2	20	EM
2	2006m4	-5.947091	9.54027	        2	20	EM
2	2006m5	-2.846269	-5.947091	2	20	EM
2	2006m6	-12.51931	-2.846269	2	20	EM


I think this should be possible using the merge command, but I am not sure 
how to work it.

Thannks for you help,

Nick Baker

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