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I'm trying to run a for loop to make a balance table in Stata (comparing the demographics of my dataset with national-level statistics)

For this, I'm prepping my dataset and attempting to calculate the percentages/averages for some key demographics.

preserve
    rename unearnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95
    foreach var of varlist fem age nonwhite hhsize parent employed savings_wins95 debt_wins95 earnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95 underfpl2019 { //continuous or binary; to put categorical vars use kwallis test
            dis "for variable `var':"
            tabstat `var' 
            summ `var' 
            local `var'_samplemean=r(mean)
        }    
    clear
    set obs 11
    gen var=""
    gen sample=.
    gen F=.
    gen pvalue=.
    replace var="% Female" if _n==1 
    replace var="Age" if _n==2
    replace var="% Non-white" if _n==3
    replace var="HH size" if _n==4
    replace var="% Parent" if _n==5
    replace var="% Employed" if _n==6
    replace var="Savings stock ($)" if _n==7
    replace var="Debt stock ($)" if _n==8
    replace var="Earned income last mo. ($)" if _n==9
    replace var="Unearned income last mo. ($)" if _n==10
    replace var="% Under FPL 2019" if _n==11
    foreach col of varlist sample {
        replace `col'=100*round(`fem_`col'mean', 0.01) if _n==1
        replace `col'=round(`age_`col'mean') if _n==2
        replace `col'=100*round(`nonwhite_`col'mean', 0.01) if _n==3
        replace `col'=round(`hhsize_`col'mean', 0.1) if _n==4
        replace `col'=100*round(`parent_`col'mean', 0.01) if _n==5
        replace `col'=100*round(`employed_`col'mean', 0.01) if _n==6
        replace `col'=round(`savings_wins95_`col'mean') if _n==7
        replace `col'=round(`debt_wins95_`col'mean') if _n==8
        replace `col'=round(`earnedinc_wins95_`col'mean') if _n==9
        replace `col'=round(`unearninc_wins95_`col'mean') if _n==10
        replace `col'=100*round(`underfpl2019_`col'mean', 0.01) if _n==11
    }

I'm trying to run the following loop, but in the second half of the loop, I keep getting an 'invalid syntax' error. For context, in the first half of the loop (before clearing the dataset), the code stores the average values of the variables as a macro (`var'_samplemean). Can someone help me out and mend this loop?

My sample data:

clear
input byte fem float(age nonwhite) byte(hhsize parent) float employed double(savings_wins95 debt_wins95 earnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95) float underfpl2019
1 35 1 6 1 1   0  2500    0 0 0
0 40 0 4 1 1   0 10000 1043 0 0
0 40 0 4 1 1   0 20000 2400 0 0
0 40 0 4 1 1 .24 20000 2000 0 0
0 40 0 4 1 1  10     . 2600 0 0

Thanks!

Tara
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  • Without a reproducible example it is difficult to say. Can you use `dataex` to create a little sample data we can reproduce the error with? (See `dataex` on this page: https://stackoverflow.com/tags/stata/info). Or can you run `set trace on` and run your code again and edit your question to include the couple of lines of output you get before the error? – TheIceBear Jun 14 '21 at 20:57
  • Hi, edited the question to include the data! – Tara Jun 14 '21 at 21:09
  • If you run the `input` section first, then the rest of the code in your example, then there is no error (as long as you comment out `rename unearnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95`). It might not be the output you expect, but there is no error. Please make sure that the code you provide does create the error when run independently – TheIceBear Jun 14 '21 at 21:27
  • The qualifiers `if _n==1`. `if _n==2` and so on can be replaced with `in 1`, `in 2` and so on, which is faster as well as easier to type. – Nick Cox Jun 15 '21 at 05:28
  • Please accept the answer from @C.Robin if it answers your question satisfactorily. – Nick Cox Jun 18 '21 at 06:07

2 Answers2

1

Thanks for sharing the snippet of data. Apart from the fact the variable unearninc_wins95 has already been renamed in your sample data, the code runs fine for me without returning an error.

That being said, the columns for your F-statistics and p-values are empty once the loop at the bottom of your code completes. As far as I can see there is no local/varlist called sample which you're attempting to call with the line foreach col of varlist sample{. This could be because you haven't included it in your code, in which case please do, or it could be because you haven't created the local/varlist sample, in which case this could well be the source of your error message.

Taking a step back, there are more efficient ways of achieving what I think you're after. For example, you can get (part of) what you want using the package stat2data (if you don't have it installed already, run ssc install stat2data from the command prompt). You can then run the following code:

stat2data fem age nonwhite hhsize parent employed savings_wins95 debt_wins95 earnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95 underfpl2019,  saving("~/yourstats.dta") stat(count mean)

*which returns:

preserve
use "~/yourstats.dta", clear

. list, sep(11)

     +----------------------------+
     |        _name   sN    smean |
     |----------------------------|
  1. |          fem    5       .2 |
  2. |          age    5       39 |
  3. |     nonwhite    5       .2 |
  4. |       hhsize    5      4.4 |
  5. |       parent    5        1 |
  6. |     employed    5        1 |
  7. | savings_wins    5    2.048 |
  8. |  debt_wins95    4    13125 |
  9. | earnedinc_wi    5   1608.6 |
 10. | unearninc_wi    5        0 |
 11. | underfpl2019    5        0 |
     +----------------------------+

restore

This is missing the empty F-statistic and p-value variables you created in your code above, but you can always add them in the same way you have with gen F=. and gen pvalue=.. The presence of these variables though indicates you want to run some tests at some point and then fill the cells with values from them. I'd offer advice on how to do this but it's not obvious to me from your code what you want to test. If you can clarify this I will try and edit this answer to include that.

Nick Cox
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C.Robin
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1

This doesn't answer your question directly; as others gently point out the question is hard to answer without a reproducible example. But I have several small comments on your code which are better presented in this form.

Assuming that all the variables needed are indeed present in the dataset, I would recommend something more like this:

local myvarlist fem age nonwhite hhsize parent employed savings_wins95 debt_wins95 earnedinc_wins95 unearninc_wins95 underfpl2019

local desc `" "% Female"  "Age" "% Non-white" "HH size" "% Parent" "% Employed" "Savings stock ($)" "Debt stock ($)" "Earned income last mo. ($)" "Unearned income last mo. ($)" "% Under FPL 2019" "' 

local i = 1 

gen variable = "" 
gen mean = "" 

local i = 1 
foreach var of local myvars { 
    summ `var', meanonly 
    local this : word `i' of `desc'
    
    replace variable = "`this'" in `i'
    
    if inlist(`i', 1, 3, 5, 6, 11) { 
        replace mean = strofreal(100 * r(mean), "%2.0f") in `i'
    } 
    else if `i' == 4 { 
        replace mean = strofreal(r(mean), "%2.1f") in `i' 
    } 
    else replace mean = strofreal(r(mean), "%2.0f") in `i' 
    
    local ++i 
}

This has not been tested.

Points arising include:

  1. Using in is preferable for what you want over testing the observation number with if.

  2. round() is treacherous for rounding to so many decimal places. Most of the time you will get what you want, but occasionally you will get bizarre results arising from the fact that Stata works in binary, like any equivalent program. It is safer to treat rounding as a problem in string manipulation and use display formats as offering precisely what you want.

  3. If the text you want to show is just the variable label for each variable, this code could be simplified further.

  4. The code hints at intent to show other stuff, which is easily done compatibly with this design.

Nick Cox
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