Step 2 Quality Adjusted Prices: Read Me First
Installation advices for Step 2:
Important Notes before we start:
1. Step 2 is responsible for the estimation of all parameters used in the program. A more detailed review of them together with their connection to the main paper and appendix can be found in the supplementary document: “Step 2 End User Documentation.docx” found under the “Documents” directory after you unzip the Step_2.zip file in the specified local program directory.
2. Step 2 delivers all the necessary Stata do files under the “DO\Estimators” directory and all the input and output Stata dta files under the “DTA\Estimators\Files” directory.
3. Although the final result Stata dta files of Step 2 are already included in Step 3, Step 3 does not include those Stata do files and the input Stata dta files that generate these results.
4. Although Step 2 can be installed either before or after Step 3, we highly recommend the installation after Step 3 was already installed.
5. As a reminder, Step 3 is a cumulative step in a sense that it already includes Step 1. As a result, for anyone trying to reproduce or use for further studies the final results from “International Prices and Endogenous Quality”, Step 3 is the right starting point, with no need to install Step 1 first.
6. Step3 is also a fully functional step in a sense that it comes already loaded with all the values for the model’s parameters estimates that were obtained during Step 2. Although our near future intention is to extend to the current year the existent range of years, right now we have estimates only from 1984 until 2011.
Instalation steps:
To create an optimal installation and running of this downloaded Stata code on your local computer, the following steps are highly recommended:
1. Create an empty directory specially reserved only for this Project on your local computer. For example: “C:\Projects\Stata\PricesAndQuality” or “C:\Projects\Stata\WTF”. Note that if this directory was already created during Step 3 you have to use the same one, so you don’t need to create a new directory.
2. Copy the downloaded zip file, Step_2.zip, under this newly created directory or the one that was already created by Step 3.
3. Unzip it under the same location, that means when asked to “Select a Destination and Extract Files”, select your newly created directory.
4. This step is performed only if Step 2 is installed after Step 3 (highly recommended):
When asked: “This destination already contains a folder named ‘DO’ …..
Do you still want to merge this folder ‘DO’ with this one” please select Merge/Yes.
Similar for the folder ‘Estimators’ and ‘DTA’.
5. Check point: if everything was running smooth, you can see under the “DO\Estimators” directory all the Stata do files responsible with the parameters’ estimation. Also, you will find all the necessary input Stata dta files and the Stata output under the “DTA\Estimators\Files” directory.
6. Congratulation! You have just finished the Step 2’s installation process.
Extra Documentation:
Further extra documentation can be found under the “Documents” directory. It includes the files: “Step 2 End User Documentation.docx” and “Read Me First Step 2” (this file).
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