Matching Actions to Years

[Jim Stevenson]

I have to different databases. Database 1 has executive actions in specific years, but this is not continuous (there may be an executive action in 2002 then nothing until 2004) Database 2 has country specific economic performance in specific years. I need somehow to match up the executive action score to the most recent event. So I have database 1 that looks like:

year | governance_score | country
1919 5 USA
1979 12 FRA
1988 10 USA
1988 3 DEU
2001 9 FRA
2005 11 DEU

And Database 2
year | country | GDP
1990 USA 290
1991 USA 292
1992 USA 294
1995 FRA 143




How can I keep the governance score consistent for each year after the active date until the country gets a subsequent score and match it to the country?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Hemanshu Kumar]

clear
input int year byte governance_score str3 country
1919 5 USA
1979 12 FRA
1988 10 USA
1988 3 DEU
2001 9 FRA
2005 11 DEU
end

tempfile gov
save `gov'

clear
input int year str3 country int gdp
1990 USA 290
1991 USA 292
1992 USA 294
1995 FRA 143
end

merge 1:1 country year using `gov'

bysort country (year): replace governance_score = governance_score[_n-1] if missing(governance_score)
drop if _merge == 2
drop _merge