2023-09-26

The Plan

9:00

  • Konnichi wa こんにちは
  • Overview of reproducibility and replicability in economics, including replication packages (presentation)

10:00-10:50 … Let’s make a replication package (hands-on using a simple example, from directory structure to (almost) deposit at a trusted repository) 0

11:00-11:50 … Principles and structure of replication packages (including README files) 1 2 For confidential data: 1b

11:50-13:00 … Lunch time

13:00-13:50 … Foundations of reproducible programming practices (in any programming language) 3 4

14:00-14:50 … Continuation and open discussion about specific examples (if you have one, bring your own project!) 5

15:00-15:50 … Discussions on institutional support for replicability in Japanese context (including Q&A) 15:50-16:00 … Closing remarks

Overview

  • Stata packages need to be installed
  • There are many ways to install them!
  • Only a few lead to reproducible code!

Installing Stata packages

From the GUI

  • Many people point and click - first search

how to install packages - the GUI way

Then see the result

how to install packages - the GUI way

Then click to install

how to install packages - the GUI way

From the command line

search adoinstall
ssc install adoinstall

From the command line

net install st_0034, from("http://statajournal.com/sj/1/2")

But where does it go?

Do you know?

It goes here

. adopath
  [1]  (BASE)      "/usr/local/stata17/ado/base/"
  [2]  (SITE)      "/usr/local/ado/"
  [3]              "."
  [4]  (PERSONAL)  "~/ado/personal/"
  [5]  (PLUS)      "~/ado/plus/"
  [6]  (OLDPLACE)  "~/ado/"

Or here

. adopath
  [1]  (BASE)      "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\base/"
  [2]  (SITE)      "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\site/"
  [3]              "."
  [4]  (PERSONAL)  "C:\Users\lv39\ado\personal/"
  [5]  (PLUS)      "C:\Users\lv39\ado\plus/"
  [6]  (OLDPLACE)  "c:\ado/"

Where DID it go?

. which adoinstall
C:\Users\lv39\ado\plus\a\adoinstall.ado
*! version 0.1 5Aug2020

What are the problems?

  • Single place on disk where it is installed
    • Can you see the problem if you have multiple projects?
  • The place where it is installed is not related to the project
    • How do I convey to replicators which package is needed?
    • … and the version of the package
  • The point-and-click or manual install are tedious

Solution

Use code to install to a project-specific location.

Solution

cd "$rootdir"
// Remove those unnecessary places
adopath - OLDPLACE
adopath - PERSONAL
// Add a project specific one, by repurposing the PLUS directory
cap mkdir "${rootdir}/adofiles"
sysdir set PLUS "${rootdir}/adofiles"

Outcome

(note the search order)

. adopath ++ "${rootdir}/adofiles"
  [1]  (PLUS)      "/path/to/project/adofiles"
  [2]  (BASE)      "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\base/"
  [3]  (SITE)      "C:\Program Files\Stata17\ado\site/"
  [4]              "."

Side-note: should you cite Stata packages?

Some of the most common Stata packages are heavily used:

. ssc, hot

 Rank   # hits    Package       Author(s)
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     1  98781.5    outreg2       Roy Wada                                
     2  82108.0    distinct      Gary Longton, Nicholas J. Cox           
     3  76510.6    estout        Ben Jann                                
     4  75270.7    geodist       Robert Picard                           
     5  73775.4    labutil       Nicholas J. Cox

Econ papers use different packages

Package Percent
estout 14.02
outreg2 8.88
reghdfe 6.54
ftools 5.61
coefplot 5.14
outtable 2.34
parmest 2.34
ivreg2 1.87

What is a software citation?

Ben Jann, 2004. “ESTOUT: Stata module to make regression tables,” Statistical Software Components S439301, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 12 Feb 2023.

Why does it matter?

Citations are the currency in the sciences

Acemoglu Google Scholar page

We cannot really measure who relies on software packages

We only know the relative frequency because

  • we downloaded every AEA package,
  • ran it,
  • determined which packages were missing, installed them, and ran again…
  • and then counted them.

You should cite software packages!

We will get back to citations, of data, later.

Next

How do we set $rootdir ?

Next

The Plan

9:00

  • Konnichi wa こんにちは
  • Overview of reproducibility and replicability in economics, including replication packages (presentation)

10:00-10:50 … Let’s make a replication package (hands-on using a simple example, from directory structure to (almost) deposit at a trusted repository) 0

11:00-11:50 … Principles and structure of replication packages (including README files) 1 2 For confidential data: 1b

11:50-13:00 … Lunch time

13:00-13:50 … Foundations of reproducible programming practices (in any programming language) 3 4

14:00-14:50 … Continuation and open discussion about specific examples (if you have one, bring your own project!) 5

15:00-15:50 … Discussions on institutional support for replicability in Japanese context (including Q&A) 15:50-16:00 … Closing remarks