Stata-users
I have been merging some files lately and discovered that _merge_
fails to match observations when the key-variables have different
precision.
If the key variable is measured as long in one file and float in the
other, most of my valid matches fail. _merge_ does tell me that the
key variable has been recast to a double, but I do feel that _merge_
should warn the user of potential false mismatches due to different
precision. If I make sure the key is stored as long in both files the
matches are correct.
I should mention that the key-variable I am using is a 9-digit
integer. I feel that this behaviour may be linked to the scale of the
key-variable.
Am I missing something here?
Using Stata 8 on Win XP.
Sincerely,
Ivar Pettersen
Research fellow
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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