Hi All,

This is my first post, so excuse me breaking any rules/conventions.

I'm trying to generate a set of variables from German migration data.

I am using a panel data set of East Germans (obs. from 1990-2016) where I have a dummy variable (varname = east) for the region the person currently lives in, taking values 1 (East Germany) and 0 (West Germany).


1.) I successfully created an emigrate dummy, which =1 if the individual migrated to West Germany in the last year.

2.) I successfully created a remigrate dummy, which =1 if the individual returned to East Germany in the last year.

3.) I want to create a returner dummy, which =1 if the individual has returned in the past. I failed to do so, this is my code:

gen return = 0

replace return = 1 if east==1 & (l.east==0| l2.east==0| l3.east==0| l4.east==0|l5.east==0| l6.east==0| l7.east==0| l8.east==0| l9.east==0| l10.east==0|l11.east==0| l12.east==0 | l13.east==0| l14.east==0| l15.east==0| l16.east==0|l17.east==0| l18.east==0| l19.east==0| l20.east==0| l21.east==0| l22.east==0|l23.east==0| l24.east==0| l25.east==0 | l26.east==0 | l27.east==0)

---- Logic: Two ifs, 1.) lives in East-Germany 2.) has lived in west-germany in the past, using lags

This doesn't work however, it seems to pick up people that never lived in West Germany

4.) I want to create a returner-to-be variable, which=1 if the individual will return in the future, but has not done so yet (still lives in East or West)



gen returnfuture = 0

replace returnfuture = 1 if (return==0 & (f.remigrate==1 | f2.remigrate==1 | f3.remigrate==1 | f4.remigrate==1 | f5.remigrate==1 | f6.remigrate==1 | f7.remigrate==1 | f8.remigrate==1 f9.remigrate==1 | f10.remigrate==1 | f11.remigrate==1 | f12.remigrate==1 | f13.remigrate==1 | f14.remigrate==1 | f15.remigrate==1 | f16.remigrate==1 | f17.remigrate==1 | f18.remigrate==1 | f19.remigrate==1 | f20.remigrate==1 | f21.remigrate==1 | f22.remigrate==1 | f23.remigrate==1 | f24.remigrate==1 | f25.remigrate==1 | f26.remigrate==1 | f27.remigrate==1 ))

----Same logic, but I need the return variable first, and I'm not sure if this is itself correct.


I would very much appreciate your help on point 3.) and 4.), thank you.

Guus