Help with synth command

[Daryl Dutrow]

I am doing a panel data study using the synthetic control method with Stata 15’s synth command and potentially synth_runner. Here are my questions:.

How do I find out how much weight is given to each predictor variable by synth?

How do I get the figure command in synth to allow me to specify a range for the y axis?

After running the synth command for all the treatment units and the placebo units created from donor units , I will have a dataset with observations for each treatment unit (Y1) and its synthetic control (Y0) and whether the observation is for a treatment unit (Trmt=1) or a placebo unit (Trmt=0). How do I get xtline or other graph command to make the observed effect (Y1-Y0) of the treatment units to look different from the effect of the placebo units? I want to print treatment unit effects in bold against lighter lines or dashed lines for the placebo units.

How do I get a vertical line at the intervention point (Time=0) using xtline?

Here is some data using dataex:

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float(ID Trmt Time Y1 Y0)
1 0 -7  63.65139  63.64005
1 0 -6   64.2131 64.048134
1 0 -5   61.1936  59.99593
1 0 -4  54.47047   56.9022
1 0 -3  47.29441  53.16168
1 0 -2  46.63894  46.43763
1 0 -1   40.7802  40.76423
1 0  0  40.64828  42.43658
1 0  1  41.20118  44.98963
1 0  2   42.9717  48.22171
2 0 -7   103.444 116.82403
2 0 -6 115.13487  109.2138
2 0 -5 106.52623  95.39498
2 0 -4   99.7607  88.75418
2 0 -3  95.46196  89.20096
2 0 -2  97.37589  84.20325
2 0 -1  98.38258  83.17612
2 0  0  105.2436  86.45541
2 0  1  116.8723  85.29406
2 0  2 142.27567  87.00538
3 1 -7  49.35128  50.29125
3 1 -6  51.54573  51.37003
3 1 -5  49.95901   50.0899
3 1 -4   51.7003  50.22478
3 1 -3  52.82834  52.26386
3 1 -2  52.49484  52.04504
3 1 -1   52.2573  53.21433
3 1  0  53.56057  53.63947
3 1  1  53.82632  60.13832
3 1  2   64.4535  65.05499
end

Thanks,
Daryl

[Marcos Almeida]

Welcome to the Stata Forum / Statalist.

Thanks for having shared data within code delimiters.

I am doing a panel data study using the synthetic control method with Stata 15’s synth command

As far as I'm concerned, Stata 15 has no - synth - command.

You probably meant the user-written (Abadie, Diamond and Hainmueller) synth program.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with this program. That said, the commands for the graphs usually follow Stata's core rules.

[Sonnen Blume]

I am doing a panel data study using the synthetic control method with Stata 15’s synth command and potentially synth_runner. Here are my questions:.

How do I find out how much weight is given to each predictor variable by synth?

How do I get the figure command in synth to allow me to specify a range for the y axis?

After running the synth command for all the treatment units and the placebo units created from donor units , I will have a dataset with observations for each treatment unit (Y1) and its synthetic control (Y0) and whether the observation is for a treatment unit (Trmt=1) or a placebo unit (Trmt=0). How do I get xtline or other graph command to make the observed effect (Y1-Y0) of the treatment units to look different from the effect of the placebo units? I want to print treatment unit effects in bold against lighter lines or dashed lines for the placebo units.

How do I get a vertical line at the intervention point (Time=0) using xtline?

Here is some data using dataex:

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float(ID Trmt Time Y1 Y0)
1 0 -7 63.65139 63.64005
1 0 -6 64.2131 64.048134
1 0 -5 61.1936 59.99593
1 0 -4 54.47047 56.9022
1 0 -3 47.29441 53.16168
1 0 -2 46.63894 46.43763
1 0 -1 40.7802 40.76423
1 0 0 40.64828 42.43658
1 0 1 41.20118 44.98963
1 0 2 42.9717 48.22171
2 0 -7 103.444 116.82403
2 0 -6 115.13487 109.2138
2 0 -5 106.52623 95.39498
2 0 -4 99.7607 88.75418
2 0 -3 95.46196 89.20096
2 0 -2 97.37589 84.20325
2 0 -1 98.38258 83.17612
2 0 0 105.2436 86.45541
2 0 1 116.8723 85.29406
2 0 2 142.27567 87.00538
3 1 -7 49.35128 50.29125
3 1 -6 51.54573 51.37003
3 1 -5 49.95901 50.0899
3 1 -4 51.7003 50.22478
3 1 -3 52.82834 52.26386
3 1 -2 52.49484 52.04504
3 1 -1 52.2573 53.21433
3 1 0 53.56057 53.63947
3 1 1 53.82632 60.13832
3 1 2 64.4535 65.05499
end

Thanks,
Daryl

Here is the video tutorial that answers your question:
https://web.stanford.edu/~jhain/Video/SynthDemo.mp4

[Daryl Dutrow]

Thanks for your responses.
Daryl