Panel Observation Weight Gap Tool

Description

Sum totalWeight and observedWeight; missingWeight is their difference.

Panel transformations and regression weights depend on entity, period and weighting conventions. Demeaning or differencing a supplied value is separate from fitting fixed effects, validating panel structure or choosing a statistically appropriate weight.

Sum totalWeight and observedWeight; missingWeight is their difference.

When to use this tool

Use Panel Observation Weight Gap when checking one panel transformation or declared observation weight.

How to use the tool and how it works

Enter entityIds, periodIds, observed, weights. Keep parallel arrays aligned. Use the units and conventions below.
Run the tool. Correct any format, range, or cross-field input error before interpreting the output.
Read totalWeight, observedWeight, missingWeight, duplicateCells. Use the output convention below.

Require equally long entityIds, periodIds, observed and nonnegative weights. Sum totalWeight and observedWeight; missingWeight is their difference. duplicateCells counts records beyond distinct exact entity-period pairs.^[1]

Input field	Meaning and units	Accepted input
entityIds	Entity Ids	Required. Array of text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192; maximum items 256.
periodIds	Period Ids	Required. Array of text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192; maximum items 256.
observed	Position-aligned flags specifying which records are observed.	Required. Array of boolean; maximum items 256.
weights	Position-aligned nonnegative weights under the specified model convention.	Required. Array of finite number; minimum 0; maximum items 256.

Output field	Interpretation	Returned shape
totalWeight	Total Weight	Required. Finite number.
observedWeight	Observed Weight	Required. Finite number.
missingWeight	Missing Weight	Required. Finite number.
duplicateCells	Number of records beyond distinct literal entity-period pairs.	Required. Safe integer.

json

{
  "input": {
    "entityIds": [
      "a",
      "a",
      "b"
    ],
    "periodIds": [
      "1",
      "1",
      "1"
    ],
    "observed": [
      true,
      false,
      true
    ],
    "weights": [
      2,
      3,
      4
    ]
  },
  "output": {
    "totalWeight": 9,
    "observedWeight": 6,
    "missingWeight": 3,
    "duplicateCells": 1
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Duplicate cells remain in the weight sums. Labels are not calendar-parsed, and coverage arithmetic does not establish a balanced panel or correct duplicate handling.
Inputs must satisfy both the field types and the cross-field conditions above. Invalid input causes an error; a successful false flag or documented placeholder is a different result.
Numeric calculations use binary floating point unless exact decimal-integer arithmetic is explicitly stated. No hidden measurement tolerance or decimal rounding is added; nonfinite or out-of-contract results are rejected. Numeric signed-zero results are exported as zero.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use a suitable complete estimator and validated data structure for panel inference, weighting and missing-data treatment.

References

Calculation and input contract: econometrics/panel-observation-weight-gap — tool.io

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