Re: st: merge using interval data

["Owens, Douglas Hamilton" <dho@tamu.edu>]

I would put the smaller provider status data into a wide format, with two date
variables, one for contract start and one for contract stop. Then 

 sort individual startdate
 by individual: assert startdate>=stopdate[_n-1] if _n>1
 *if assert fails, which status do you want to use?
 ren startdate date
 merge individual date using Big_Data
 sort individual date 
 by individual: replace stopdate = stopdate[_n-1] if _merge==2
 by individual: replace providerstatus = providerstatus[_n-1] ///
  if _merge==2 & date<=stopdate





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