how to Graph Firms Size Distributions (FSD) pooling together all the years and a graph FSD for a certain year

[yuqi zhang]

i have a panel data including 350 firms over 10 years. Now I have the employee numbers, how can I calculate the FSD for all years? should i use cluster, but why my prof told me we should cluster the standard error and then what should we do. i noticed that the culmulate function can do the size distribution. But i wonder how can I put all years inside

[Nick Cox]

By culmulate function perhaps you mean the cumul command, but you need not do any calculations yourself. There are many commands to draw graphs showing size distributions, but

1. What kind of display do you seek? Histogram, cumulative distribution, quantile plot, ....?

2. It doesn't usually make sense to pool different years. The distribution is likely to change over time, which should be investigated.

3. I don't see what clustered standard errors have to do with graphing distributions.

[yuqi zhang]

1, just the culmulative distribution. 2. But the prof required us to pool 10 years all...3. ok, i see.

[Nick Cox]

search cumulative distribution function

would produce many false positives, but I can be more positive:

. search distplot, sj

Search of official help files, FAQs, Examples, SJs, and STBs

SJ-10-1 gr41_4  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Software update for distplot
        (help distplot if installed)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q1/10   SJ 10(1):164
        new reverse(ge) option specifies plotting probabilities or
        frequencies greater than or equal to any data value

SJ-5-3  gr0018  . . . . . . . . . .  Speaking Stata: The protean quantile plot
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q3/05   SJ 5(3):442--460           (see gr41_3 and gr42_3 for commands)
        discusses quantile and distribution plots as used in
        the analysis of species abundance data in ecology

SJ-5-3  gr41_3  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Software update for distplot
        (help distplot if installed)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q3/05   SJ 5(3):471
        simplified syntax; both by() and over() are now allowed

SJ-4-2  gr0004  .  Speaking Stata: Graphing categorical and compositional data
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q2/04   SJ 4(2):190--215                                 (no commands)
        discusses graphical possibilities for categorical and
        compositional data

SJ-4-1  gr0003  . . . . . . . . . . . . Speaking Stata: Graphing distributions
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q1/04   SJ 4(1):66--88                                   (no commands)
        a review of official and user-written commands for
        graphing univariate distributions; includes tricks
        beyond what is obviously and readily available

SJ-3-4  gr41_2  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Software update for distplot
        (help distplot if installed)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q4/03   SJ 3(4):449
        option tscale() renamed as trscale()

SJ-3-2  gr41_1  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Software update for distplot
        (help distplot if installed)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        Q2/03   SJ 3(2):211
        enhanced to use Stata 8 graphics and provides new options

STB-51  gr41  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Distribution function plots
        (help distplot if installed)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  N. J. Cox
        9/99    pp.12--16; STB Reprints Vol 9, pp.108--112
        plots the cumulative distribution function or survival function
        and allows multiple variables