Economics, LaTeX

Latin phrases and Greek letters for economists

Latin phrases for economists
Phrase	Translation
A priori	Pre-supposed; your “priors beliefs”.
Ad infinitum	To infinity; and so on.
Ad valorem	Per value; a 10% tax is an ad valorem tax, whereas a duty per gallon of gasoline is not.
Ceteris paribus	All else equal e.g. “We would expect, ceteris paribus, that an increase in price would lower quantity demanded.”
De facto	For all practical purposes, but not officially.
De jure	By law.
Ex ante	Before the event; in anticipation.
Ex post	After the event; in retrospect.
Per se	Literally; by itself.
Prima facie	In the first instance; at first glance.
QED	As has been asked to be shown; done.
Ultra vires	Beyond their power, e.g. the court ruled that Congress were acting ultra vires.

Greek letters for economists
Lower-case	Upper-case	Pronunciation	Economic meaning
\(\alpha\)	A	Alpha	Capital share of income
\(\beta\)	B	Beta	Regression coefficient (econometrics), or rate of time discounting (economic theory)
\(\gamma\)	\(\Gamma\)	Gamma	N/A
\(\delta\)	\(\Delta\)	Delta	Depreciation
\(\epsilon\)	E	Epsilon	Elasticity
\(\zeta\)	Z	Zeta	N/A
\(\eta\)	H	Eta	N/A
\(\theta\)	\(\Theta\)	Theta	Type, e.g. \(\theta_H\) might represent a “high type”
\(\iota\)	I	Iota	N/A
\(\kappa\)	K	Kappa	N/A
\(\lambda\)	\(\Lambda\)	Lambda	The Lagrange multiplier
\(\mu\)	M	Mu	Mean
\(\nu\)	N	Nu	N/A
\(\xi\)	\(\Xi\)	Xi	N/A
o	O	Omicron	N/A
\(\pi\)	\(\Pi\)	Pi	Inflation, or profit (lower-case) or the product of a series (upper-case)
\(\rho\)	R	Rho	The coefficient of autoregression
\(\sigma\)	\(\Sigma\)	Sigma	Standard deviation (lower-case) or the sum of series (upper-case)
\(\tau\)	T	Tau	Tax
\(\upsilon\)	\(\Upsilon\)	Upsilon	N/A
\(\phi\)	\(\Phi\)	Fy	N/A
\(\chi\)	X	Chi (rhymes with `guy’)	Used in statistics
\(\psi\)	\(\Psi\)	Psi (like `Si’)	N/A
\(\omega\)	\(\Omega\)	Omega	N/A

Some Useful Latin and Greek (PDF)
Some Useful Latin and Greek (TeX)

Stata

Cohort grouping script

Suppose you have data on year of birth, but you want to group several years together, e.g. group 1950, 1951 and 1952 births together; 1953, 1954, and 1955 together, etc.

Below is some JavaScript code I wrote to generate the relevant Stata commands without much fuss. You only have to make minor adjustments: Enter the start year (e.g. 1950), the end year (e.g. 1955), and the interval length (e.g. 3 years).

[sourcecode language=”javascript”]
<html><body><script>
//*** Generate Stata Code to replace cohort groups *****
//*** Enda Hargaden, Summer 2010
//*** Just replace the following three variables and refresh the page

var start_year = 1881;
var end_year = 1990;
var interval = 5;

//*** You’re done. Or at least you should be.

var c;
var a;
var backup1 = start_year;
var backup2 = end_year;
a = end_year – start_year;
a = a/interval;
a = Math.ceil(a);
a=a+1;

document.write("gen cohort_group = 0 <br />");
for(i=1;i<a;i++)
{
c=start_year+interval;
document.write("replace cohort_group = " + i + " if cohort > " + (start_year-1) + " & cohort < " + c + "<br />");

start_year = start_year+interval;

}

start_year = backup1;
end_year = backup2

document.write("<br />recode cohort_group ");
document.write("( 0 = 0 \"Other\" ) ///<br />");
for(j=1;j<a;j++)
{

if(j<(a-1))
{
c=start_year+interval-1;
document.write("( " + j + " = " + j + " \"" + (start_year) + " – " + c + "\" ) ///<br />");
start_year=start_year+interval;
}
if(j==a-1)
{
c=start_year+interval-1;
document.write("( " + j + " = " + j + " \"" + (start_year) + " – " + c + "\" ), gen(cohort_clean)<br />la var cohort_clean \"Birth Cohort\"<br />");
start_year=start_year+interval;
}
}
</script></body></html>
[/sourcecode]

I wrote this with a five-year interval in mind so I cannot guarantee you won’t run into an integer problem with the last entry, etc. However, it should get you most of the way there. Enjoy!

Latin phrases and Greek letters for economists

Cohort grouping script

Enda Patrick Hargaden