st: Principal Component Analysis, First Steps

[Ulrich Atz <ulrich.atz@students.uni-mannheim.de>]

Dear StataList!

I am working on a probit model for self-employment. So far the usual  
covariates are straightforward, but I'd like to include some more  
unusual variables such as e.g. the "social ties" of an individual.
Because of my data set, this is a latent variable, though I have many  
potential acceptable proxies. To reduce the structure my idea is to  
use a confirmatory factor analysis and boil them all down to one  
"index".

I know STATA includes the pca command, but my knowledge is limited,  
hence, I wondered if someone can provide me a link for an example of  
this kind. The Stata help ones are not particularly enlightening.

Especially the postestimation is not clear, so e.g. how to create a  
new variable. I hope I confused not to many things and appreciate your  
answer.

Best regards,
Ulrich
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