Re: st: problem with ineqdeco & remote access

[simone scarpa <scarpa.simone@gmail.com>]

Thank you to both Nick Cox and Stephen Jenkins for your responses and
suggestions. The problem has been solved by simply updating Stata to
its latest version. Now -ineqdeco- works perfectly!

Kind regard,
Simone Scarpa - Linnaeus University


2012/10/2  <S.Jenkins@lse.ac.uk>:
> Thanks to Nick Cox for his response.  You should do the checking he
> suggests.
>
> I have another guess concerning your problem. A few months ago there was
> a problem in Stata 12, inadvertently introduced, and some users reported
> problems with the by() option to -ineqdeco- as a result of this problem.
> The bug was quickly fixed by StataCorp in an update of 20jun2012, and
> the problems with -ineqdeco- arise no longer. On this bug fix, see -help
> whatsnew-
>      2.  egen, when the argument to fcn() was an expression of a
> variable subtracted or multiplied
>          by another variable, mistakenly unabbreviated the argument as
> if it were a variable list.
>          This has been fixed.
> However, this is only a guess.  Whatever, I would check that the Stata
> 12 that you use is fully updated. (Type -update query-) The current
> update level is 01 Oct 2012.
>
> Finally, see if you can reproduce your problem with a publicly available
> Stata data set. E.g.
>
>         sysuse auto
>         ineqdeco price, by(foreign)
>
>
> Stephen
> -------------------------------------
> Professor Stephen P. Jenkins  <s.jenkins@lse.ac.uk>
> Department of Social Policy
> London School of Economics and Political Science
> Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, U.K.
> Tel. +44 (0)20 7955 6527
> Changing Fortunes: Income Mobility and Poverty Dynamics in Britain, OUP
> 2011, http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199226436.do
> Survival Analysis using Stata:
> http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/survival-analysis
> Downloadable papers and software: http://ideas.repec.org/e/pje7.html
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nick Cox [mailto:njcoxstata@gmail.com]
>> Sent: 02 October 2012 19:19
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: Re: st: problem with ineqdeco & remote access
>>
>> -ineqdeco- was written by Stephen Jenkins, who is a member of this
>> list. Before he chimes in, there are some things you can do.
>>
>> By the way, my guess is that the version of Stata being used, 9 or 12,
>> is no consequence here. It's all about which version of -ineqdeco- you
>> have.
>>
>> 1. If you look at the latest version on -ssc- you can see that the
>> code has embedded comments, which start
>>
>> *! 2.0.2 SPJ May 2008 (fix bug arising if bygroup() and `touse' lead
>> to no obs in a group)
>> *!   bug fix method provided by Austin Nichols (many thanks!)
>>
>> I'll bet this is pertinent to your problem, i.e. you need 2.0.2 but
>> have not got it.
>>
>> What you can do is type
>>
>> . which ineqdeco
>>
>> and see whether you get a report that starts as above, or -which-
>> signals an earlier version.
>>
>> 2. Check thoroughly to see whether there are multiple versions of
>> -ineqdeco- in different places on your system. For example, if you are
>> on Windows, use the Command Prompt (or equivalent) to search for
>> ineqdeco.ado on your drive with Stata.
>>
>> 3. Even if -ineqdeco- has been updated successfully from SSC, there is
>> evidently still a problem, so 2. above should be reported in
>> conjunction with the results of typing -adopath-. It could be that you
>> are seeing an old version of -ineqdeco-, which trumps a newer version
>> becase of your -adopath-.
>>
>> 4. As you brush your teeth, each time say "Stata, not STATA".
>> (Question is well stated otherwise!)
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 6:44 PM, simone scarpa
> <scarpa.simone@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I am a beginner with STATA and I apologize in advance if my question
>> > is long and/or too simple.
>> >
>> > I have a problem with the ineqdeco module. I have used this
> excellent
>> > module before but today I have encountered a strange problem with
> the
>> > bygroup option.
>> > When I run the following command:
>> > . ineqdeco income, bygroup (ethnicgroup)
>> > I get only the first part of the output (Percentile ratios,
>> > Generalized Entropy indices, Atkinson indices) but then, after the
>> > three tables, I do not get the decomposition of the indices but,
>> > instead, I get the following error message:
>> > . invalid syntax
>> > . r(198);
>> >
>> > I think that this problem is strange for two reasons:
>> > (1) Firstly, the syntax worked perfectly - with the same dataset -
>> > until a few months ago (May 2012). For privacy reasons, I need to
>> > access the computer hosting my dataset through remote access. This
>> > computer is in fact administered by a governmental body. I don't
> know
>> > which changes may have been done to the Stata software installed on
>> > that computer since May 2012 (when the syntax still worked). I
> already
>> > asked to the computer administrators to reinstall the module with
> the
>> > following command:
>> > . ssc inst ineqdeco, replace
>> > However this did not solve my problem, i.e. I still get the same
> error
>> > message (invalid syntax + r(198)).
>> > (2) Secondly, the same syntax works perfectly on my computer, with
>> > another dataset. I have Stata 9 on my computer while Stata 12 is
>> > instead installed on the remote computer.
>> >
>> > If the problem is related to the Stata software installed on the
>> > remote computer, I need to be able to explain to the computer
>> > administrators what they have to do in order to solve this problem
> (if
>> > it can be solved).
>> >
>> > I do hope that someone in this mailing list can help me.
>
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer
>
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/