{smcl}
{* 12dec2008}{...}
{hline}
help for {hi:mol}{right:Joao Pedro Azevedo}
{hline}



{title:Measures of Effective Literacy}

{p 8 15}
{cmd:mol} 
{it:varlist} 
[{it:weight}] 
[{cmd:if} {it:exp}] 
[{cmd:in} {it:range}] 
{cmd:,}
{cmd:house(}{it:varname)}   
{cmd:[}
{cmdab:f:ormat}{cmd:(%}{it:fmt}{cmd:)}
{cmd:by(}{it:varname}{cmd:)} 
{cmd:rank} 
{cmd:gen} 
{cmd:]}
{p_end}

{p}{cmd:aweight}s and {cmd:fweight}s are allowed; see help {help weights}.{p_end}



{title:Description}

{p}A country's overall level of literacy is usually measured by taking the number
of adults who are literate as a percentage of the total number of adults - the
so-called literacy rate. Following Sen (1985) there has been increased use of the
literacy rate and other social indicators to evaluate the overall standard of
living in a country.{p_end}

{p}{cmd:mol} implements an alternative aproaches to evaluate the aggregate literacy level 
in a country or region or any type of group. The resulting 'effective literacy' proposed by 
Basu and Foster (1998). This measure takes into account the intrahousehold externality arising 
from the presence of a literate member in the household. The extensions proposed by 
Subramanian (2004) are also implemented.{p_end}



{title:Option}

{p 0 4}{cmd:by(}housevar{cmd:)} indicates the variable that will be used to 
identify the members of a given household.{p_end}

{p 0 4}{cmd:by(}groupvar{cmd:)} repeats the command for each group of observations for which 
the values of the variables in varlist are the same. Groupvar must be an integer variable.{p_end}

{p 0 4}{cmd:alpha(}number{cmd:)} specifies the sensitivity alpha used. Alpha is contained within 
the interval [0,1]. If alpha is omited, only the houseshould effective literacy is calculated. 
Multiple alphas are allowed to be calculated at once. {p_end}

{p 0 4}{cmd:rank} returns the rank of different groups according to each indicator.{p_end}

{p 0 4}{cmd:gen} generates tree new variables in the dataset with the output of the exercise.{p_end}

{p 0 4}{cmd:format(%}{it:fmt}{cmd:)} specifies the format to be used to
display the estimated inequality indices. The default is to use a
{cmd:%6.5f} format.{p_end}



{title:Output Variables}

{p 5 4}{cmd:R    :}  'Crude' Literacy Rate .{p_end}
{p 5 4}{cmd:Re   :}  Effective Literacy [alpha = hous. lit. rate].{p_end}
{p 5 4}{cmd:(1-I):}  Isolated Rate of Literacy (1-I).{p_end}
{p 5 4}{cmd:I    :}  Isolated Rate of Illiteracy (1-I).{p_end}
{p 5 4}{cmd:Q    :}  Efficiency Loss. Q is contained within the interval [0,1]: Q= 0 when I = 0, and Q= 1 when I=1R
(which, of course, is the maximum value I can attain, corresponding to a situation in which
all illiterates are isolated illiterates).{p_end}
{p 5 4}{cmd:R*   :}  Externality-adjusted Literacy Rate (Subramanian, 2004).{p_end}



{title:Saved Results}

{p 5}{cmd:mol} returns results in r() format.{p_end}



{title:Example}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio)}{p_end}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio) alpha(.2 .5 .8)}{p_end}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio) by(region) gen}{p_end}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio) by(state) rank}{p_end}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio) by(gender) alpha(.2)}{p_end}

{p 8 12}{inp:. mol alfab [fw= weight], house(domicilio) by(gender) alpha(.2 .5 .8)}{p_end}



{title:Reference}

{p 5 10}Basu, Kaushik and Foster, James E. (1998) On measuring literacy. Economic Journal, 
vol.108, no.451, Nov., pp.1733-1749.{p_end}

{p 5 10}Sen, A. (1985), Commodities and Capability. Amsterdam: North-Holland.{p_end}

{p 5 10}Subramanian, S (2004) Measuring literacy: some extensions of the Basu-Foster framework. 
Journal of Development Economics, vol.73, pp453-463.{p_end}



{title:Author}

{p 5}Joao Pedro Azevedo{p_end}
{p 5}jazevedo@worldbank.org{p_end}
{p 5}World Bank{p_end}



{title:Also see}

{p 4 13 2}Manual:  {hi:[R] lorenz}{p_end}
{p 4 13 2}Online:  help for {help alorenz}; {help apoverty}; {help changemean} (if installed).{p_end}



{title:Acknowledgements}

{p 4 4 2}The financial support of UNESCO is gratefully acknowledge.{p_end} 
{p 4 4 2}The usual disclaimer applies.{p_end}
