Hi dear experts, I need to fill entries for entire time period using earlier symbol. For example, I have a company (GVKEY 100) that starts from Dec 2010 and ends at May 2011. Symbol for first date (Dec 2010) is A, then the next one is B which is on April 2011. what i need is to create consecutive; "year" "month" for the entire time period (Dec 2010 to May 2011) and plug in the earlier Symbol for the missing.   Please note; I have many of the distinct companies (see below for two GVKEY, 100 and 120).    Data Have; GVKEY Year Month Symbol 100 2010 12 A 100 2011 4 B 100 2011 5 BB 120 2013 11 D 120 2014 2 C 120 2014 4 B Data Want; GVKEY Year Month Symbol 100 2010 12 A 100 2011 1 A 100 2011 2 A 100 2011 3 A 100 2011 4 B 100 2011 5 BB 120 2013 11 D 120 2013 12 D 120 2014 1 D 120 2014 2 C 120 2014 3 C 120 2014 4 B   thanks   ... View more

Creating a new dummy variable (dum) as 1 for current year if at least past two consecutive year (t-2, t-1) has div = 0, and current year (t) div = 1, and at least next two consecutive year (t+1, t+2) has div = 1. To be noted, this is a panel data structure. I have over 10,000 different PERMNO. Really appreciate if someone can help, thanks a lot   Data Have;   PERMNO Fyear div 10100 1980 0 10100 1981 0 10100 1982 1 10100 1983 1 10100 1984 0 10100 1985 1 10100 1986 1 10100 1987 1 10100 1988 0 10100 1989 0 10100 1990 0 10100 1991 1 10100 1992 1 10100 1993 1 10100 1994 1 10100 1995 0   Data want; PERMNO Fyear div dum 10100 1980 0 0 10100 1981 0 0 10100 1982 1 0 10100 1983 1 0 10100 1984 0 0 10100 1985 1 0 10100 1986 1 0 10100 1987 1 0 10100 1988 0 0 10100 1989 0 0 10100 1990 0 0 10100 1991 1 1 10100 1992 1 0 10100 1993 1 0 10100 1994 1 0 10100 1995 0 0     ... View more