Economics Lesson with Stata: Glossary

Always write out filename extensions to avoid confusion.

Always use forward slash / in path names.

Use short and descriptive variable names.

Label your variables.

Use the missing value feature of Stata, not a numerical code.

Test for missing values with the missing function.

In Stata expressions, missing values are greater than any number. Functions of missing values are missing value.

Check CSV files for separator, variable names, and character encoding.

Drop unnessecary variables freely.

Reshape your dataset to create tidy data.

Use egen to save statistics to new columns, collapse to aggregate the entire dataset.

Create tidy data before merging.

Add commands to a .do file.

Run .do files en bloc, not by parts.

Check what directory you are running .do files from.

Do not copy-paste your own code.

Use for loops to automate anything that happens more than twice.

Use return list after a command to see what you can reuse.