.
Michael,
how about:
clear
input Obs Subject Year Measure Diff
1      1    2001   105	.
2      1    2002   109	4
3      1    2003   119	10
4      2    2007    90	.
5      2    2008   105	15
6      2    2009    97	-8
end
tsset Subject Year, yearly
gen difference=d1.Measure
HTH,
Philipp
Michael Crain wrote:
I am trying to figure out how to get Stata to calculate the difference between values of a variable based on two observations but only when the subjects are the same. (Sort of a first differencing but with multiple subjects in the data set.) 
Using the data set below, I have a fifth variable ('Diff') that is the difference between the values of 'Measure' for the same subject over the previous year. I want to have Stata calculate the difference between 109 & 105 (=4), 119 & 109 (=10) for Subject 1; and the difference between  105 & 90, 97 & 105 for Subject 2. Furthermore, since there is no value for Subject 1 prior to 2001 and prior to 2007 for Subject 2, there is no difference in the values of Measure over a previous year for those two subjects.
Obs Subject Year Measure Diff (Calc. result)
1      1    2001   105            n/a
2      1    2002   109    ?        4
3      1    2003   119    ?       10
4      2    2007    90            n/a
5      2    2008   105    ?       15
6      2    2009    97    ?       -8
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