When reading in the data, Stata read does read an "extra" 16
observations for each dataset. So, both Friedrich's and Nick's
solutions work very well.
The data contain eight contiguous date variables as well, and it is
impossible for all eight to be missing (at least one has to be
non-missing).
So, while less elegant, the following also works in my particular application:
gen x=1 if rnd_date- frm_first_date==.;
drop if x==1;
drop x;
Thanks for the advice.
Best,
Alan
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