Nick--
I think you mean:
tsset i t
bysort i (t) : gen become = cond(mi(L.x,x), ., x == 1 & L.x == 0)
since _n!=1 is no guarantee that x and L.x are nonmissing.
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Nick Cox <[email protected]> wrote:
> Your primary concern should be the unbalanced panels. Does t - 1 mean
> what it says, or you intend the previous observation?
>
> For _balanced panels_, one line of code
>
> bysort i (t) : gen become = x == 1 & x[_n-1] == 0
>
> gets you most if not all of the way.
>
> The right-hand side (RHS)
>
> x == 1 & x[_n-1] == 0
>
> is either true (numerically 1) or false (numerically 0).
>
> Benson is right to be concerned about boundary conditions.
>
> For the first observation in each panel, we are asking whether
>
> x[1] == 1 & x[0] == 0
>
> subscripts being evaluated within panels under the aegis of -by:-.
>
> But x[0] is evaluated as missing, and the RHS will be 0 (false).
>
> If Benson wants . for the first observation in each panel, then you can
> do this
>
> bysort i (t) : gen become = cond(_n == 1, ., x == 1 & x[_n-1] == 0)
>
> For _unbalanced panels_, you may want something more like
>
> bysort i (t) : gen become = cond(_n == 1, ., x == 1 & L.x == 0)
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
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