*! Version 1.1.0 by Francisco Perales 24-April-2013
help hildasetup

Title

hildasetup - Creates a longitudinal dataset for the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey

Syntax

hildasetup , datadirectory(string) savingdirectory(string) filename(string) variables(string) release(#) [options]

options description

Main
datadirectory(string) specifies the directory in which the original HILDA files are located
savingdirectory(string) specifies the directory in which the resulting longitudinal HILDA file will be placed
filename(string) specifies the name to be given to the resulting longitudinal HILDA file
variables(string) specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA longitudinal files to be used
release(integer) specifies the release of HILDA data used
masterfile specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA Master file to be used
lwfile specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA Longitudinal Weights file to be used
unconfidentialised is used when Unconfidentialised/In-confidence rather than General Release HILDA data is used

Description

hildasetup creates a longitudinal dataset for the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, one of the largest household panel surveys in the world.
As is customary for household panel surveys, HILDA data are disseminated as a collection of cross-sectional files which need to be combined by the user. The command hildasetup is designed
to substantially simplify and speed up the process of combining the information in HILDA, and supports variables contained in the 'Combined' longitudinal files, the 'Master' file, and the
'Longitudinal Weights' file featured in each release of the HILDA survey. Users are required to specify the directories in which the original data is located and where the new file will
be stored; the variables in the longitudinal HILDA files that are required; the preferred name for the longitudinal dataset to be created; and the data release used. Additionally, users have
the option to specify whether they require any variables from the 'Master' or 'Longitudinal Weights' data files. The longitudinal file produced by hildasetup has a 'long' format.

Options

datadirectory(string) specifies the directory in which the original HILDA files are located.
Note that this can be specified within quotation marks and should not include a backslash at the end.
For instance, datadirectory("C:\Data") would be appropriate whereas datadirectory(C:\Data) or datadirectory("C:\Data\") would not be appropriate.
Note also that the name of the original HILDA files should not have been altered beforehand.

savingdirectory(string) specifies the directory in which the resulting longitudinal HILDA file will be placed.
Note that this can be specified within quotation marks and should not include a backslash at the end.
For instance, datadirectory("C:\Mydata") would be appropriate whereas datadirectory(C:\Mydata) or datadirectory("C:\Mydata\") would not be appropriate.
Note also that you must have writing permission onto this directory.

filename(string) specifies the name to be given to the resulting longitudinal HILDA file.
Note that this should be a single word (or a string of words joined by underscores) and adhere to Windows file naming conventions.
There is no need to specify the file extension (i.e. .dta).

variables(string) specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA longitudinal files to be used.
Variable names should be introduced without the wave prefixes.
The personal identifier variable 'xwaveid' is assumed to be needed and should not be included in this list.
A variable denoting the wave of the panel to which an observation belongs is created automatically.
The requested variables can be any variables in the datasets named 'Combined' in the original HILDA data folder.
The use of stars to denote groups of variables beginning with a common prefix is allowed, and so is the inclusion of variables which do not appear in every wave of the panel.
If a variable which does not exist in HILDA is requested, the request will be ignored.

release(integer) specifies the release of the HILDA data to be used (e.g. 10 or 11).
Note that only the first version of a release is currently allowed (e.g. version 10 but not 10.1).

masterfile specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA Master file to be used.
The personal identifier variable 'xwaveid' is assumed to be needed and should not be included in this list.
Note however that some of the variables are in this dataset are in 'wide' format by default.
The use of stars to denote groups of variables beginning with a common prefix is allowed.
If a variable which does not exist in HILDA is requested, the request will be ignored.

lwfile specifies the subset of variables from the HILDA Longitudinal Weights file to be used.
The personal identifier variable 'xwaveid' is assumed to be needed and should not be included in this list.
The use of stars to denote groups of variables beginning with a common prefix is allowed.
If a variable which does not exist in HILDA is requested, the request will be ignored.

unconfidentialised must be specified when Unconfidentialised/In-confidence rather than General Release HILDA data is used.

Example

. hildasetup, data("D:\Data\HILDA") saving("D:\Mydata\HILDA") file(HILDA) var(xwaveid hgage hgsex gcany atw*) rel(11) master(yrenter yrleft) lw(wlea_j)

References and useful links

Summerfield, M., Freidin, S., Hahn, M., Ittak, P., Li, N., Macalalad, N., Watson, N., Wilkins, R. and Wooden, M. (2012).
HILDA User Manual – Release 11. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne.

www.melbourneinstitute.com/hilda/

Author

Francisco Perales
School of Social Science
The University of Queensland
Brisbane
QLD 4072
Australia
f.perales@uq.edu.au