RAND Fat File For HRS 1998 (Wave 4)
====================================

The documentation for the RAND HRS 1998 Fat File is in
randff_h98f1.pdf. 
Note: The documentation file has not been updated for V2 but
not much changed between V1 and V2.  

The data files, provided in three formats, have been encrypted.  It is
important to copy these files to hard drive before unencrypting.  When the
corresponding *.zip file is double-clicked, select extract, select the
folder to store the files, and provide the proper pass-phrase.  A
subfolder will be created and the data files will be unzipped to that
folder (Target subfolder).  Please use WinZip V10 or higher to unzip
the file.  You can download WinZip from www.winzip.com.

Format          File                    Target subfolder
------		----			----------------
Sas V8          h98f2_Sas8.zip          Sas8\
Stata 8 SE      h98f2_Stata8SE.zip      Stata8SE\
Spss            h98f2_Spss.zip          Spss\

NOTE: all data files are sorted by HHIDPN and have 21384 observations.

==============================================================
There are two versions of the RAND fat file for HRS 1998.
One (h98f2b) has all the original AHEAD IDs in HHIDPN.
In the other (hd98f2b) the AHEAD-AHEAD overlap cases have been assigned
their most recent AHEAD IDs in HHIDPN.

hd98f2b will merge easily with the RAND HRS Data file.

The RAND fat files for HRS 1998 are stored as:

With original AHEAD IDs for overlap cases -
Sas8\h98f2b.sas7bdat 	= SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\h98f2b.dta	= Stata V8 SE
Spss\h98f2b.sav         = Spss

With most recent AHEAD IDs for overlap cases -
Sas8\hd98f2b.sas7bdat 	= SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\hd98f2b.dta	= Stata V8 SE
Spss\hd98f2b.sav        = Spss

h98f2b.cont contains the SAS contents listing for the h98f2b SAS 
data set.

hd98f2b.cont contains the SAS contents listing for the hd98f2b SAS
data set.

h98f2b.tabs contains frequency tables and means of some variables.
=======================================================================
The RAND Income and Wealth Imputations are separate files, each stored in
several formats.  There are two versions of these files.  On one file, the
AHEAD-AHEAD overlap cases have been assigned their original AHEAD IDs in
HHIDPN.  On the other file, the AHEAD-AHEAD overlap cases have been
assigned their most recent AHEAD IDs in HHIDPN.

incf98f2 and wltf98f2 will merge easily with the RAND HRS Data file.

The files on the CD are:

With original AHEAD IDs for overlap cases -

Sas8\incm98f2.sas7bdat 	= SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\incm98f2.dta 	= Stata V8 SE
Spss\incm98f2.sav       = Spss

Sas8\wlth98f2.sas7bdat 	= SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\wlth98f2.dta 	= Stata V8 SE
Spss\wlth98f2.sav       = Spss

With most recent AHEAD IDs for overlap cases -

Sas8\incf98f2.sas7bdat  = SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\incf98f2.dta   = Stata V8 SE
Spss\incf98f2.sav       = Spss

Sas8\wltf98f2.sas7bdat  = SAS V8 for Unix/PC
Stata8SE\wltf98f2.dta   = Stata V8 SE
Spss\wltf98f2.sav       = Spss

see the randff_h98f1.pdf file for a description of these files.

incm98f2.cont and wlth98f2.cont contain the SAS contents listings
for the incm98f2 and wlth98f2 SAS data sets.

incf98f2.cont and wltf98f2.cont contain the SAS contents listings
for the incf98f2 and wltf98f2 SAS data sets.

==============================================================
The following files provide SAS formats and the variables
assignments for them. They are in the Fmts\ subdirectory.

h98bkth.fmt	SAS formats (VALUE statements) for HHold level
		categorical bracket variables
h98bkth.format	the FORMAT statement mapping HHold level
		bracket variables to SAS formats

h98bktr.fmt	SAS formats (VALUE statements) for Respondent level
		categorical bracket variables
h98bktr.format	the FORMAT statement mapping Respondent level
		bracket variables to SAS formats

income.fmt	SAS formats (VALUE statements) for income
		imputation and received flags
wealth.fmt	SAS formats (VALUE statements) for wealth
		imputation and ownership flags

incwealth98.format  FORMAT statements mapping income and wealth
		imputation and ownership flags to SAS formats

hrs98.fmt	SAS formats (VALUE statements) for some variables.
		The FORMAT statements mapping variables to value
		labels are in the comments at the top of this file.
				
========================================================================

The HRS data used for these files are:
   - HRS 1998, Version 2.3
   - Tracker V3.1
   
========================================================================

Readme last updated 6/2006.