I believe there are three dummy variables: child1, child2 and child3,
where child1 is equal to 1 if child==1 and is 0 if child !=1, and so
on. The notation child* is shorthand for child1 child2 child3. The
nocons option tells Stata not to include a constant, so that this set
of dummies is not collinear.
As far as statistical interpretation, using dummies instead of child
allows the effect of going from 0 to 1 kids to differ from the effect
of going from 1 to 2 (and so on). It's a more flexible specification.
HTH,
DVM
On Dec 5, 2007 3:48 AM, Sharif S. Aly <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> I was reading the stata 10 "Longitudinal/ panel data" book specifically
> xtmelogit example page 233 and came across a model with "child", a
> categorical variable of 3 levels (if I read this correctly) that was
> coded in the syntax of the fixed effects if the model as "child*" What
> does the star (*) imply?
> Best regards,
> Sharif
>
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