st: Identify 5 closest observations of a variable and then calculate average of another variable based on the observations identified

[Joseph Monte <hmjc66@gmail.com>]

Dear Statalisters,

The data below shows three variables:- region, var1 and var2. For each
observation in a given region, I want the 5 closest observations based
on var1 (not counting the observation in question). I basically need
the average value of var2 for the 5 observations that are identified.
I don't have any missing values in my data for all three variables
below. I can also confirm that I have a few regions with less than 6
observations each; hence these regions will be ignored. I am using
Stata 12.

Thanks,

Joe



region	var1	var2
A	3.29515	47
A	5.39742	38
A	7.94641	43
A	11.25495	235
A	22.35908	61
A	27.19206	76
A	41.03306	66
A	45.56846	89
A	53.63861	116
A	73.2925	76
A	104.3025	63
A	229.7772	74
A	634.0973	61
A	1053.78	80
A	1163.681	47
B	2.339128	55
B	2.378151	46
B	9.831361	47
B	15.83442	57
B	16.48956	42
B	28.70144	44
B	56.01777	29
B	113.9736	103
B	178.731	47
B	340.715	103
C	0.5892565	44
C	2.016974	37
C	3.041719	76
C	4.009228	80
C	5.856674	51
C	7.587287	188
C	8.827202	66
C	11.53763	48
C	11.67932	152
C	11.86612	51
C	12.95344	84
C	14.85097	63
C	17.12918	47
C	17.74263	67
C	17.97567	75
C	20.60005	84
C	22.13938	44
C	28.99966	44
C	31.23538	55
C	31.52542	36
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