Boolean Probit/Logit Software

This page is designed to allow users of Stata and R to implement the Boolean probit and logit procedures described in Bear F. Braumoeller (2003), "Causal Complexity and the Study of Politics," Political Analysis 11(3): 209-233. There are three options.

• Users of R can download a source file, boolean_1.02.tar.gz, and follow these instructions.
  
  
  • Unix users, including Linux users and those running R under XWindows on the Macintosh, can put this file in R's working directory and type R CMD INSTALL boolean_1.02.tar.gz to install. Superuser privileges may be required, in which case sudo R CMD INSTALL boolean_1.02.tar.gz will do the trick. Mac users will need to install Developers' Tools before compiling.
    
    
  • Windows users should read section 3.1 of the R for Windows FAQ and install the necessary compilation tools. (Note that the first Perl screen only installs the installer service, not Perl itself.) Once that has been done, put this file in R's working directory and type Rcmd INSTALL boolean_1.02.tar.gz to install.
    
    
  • If source installation fails on any platform, try un-tarring and un-gzipping the file first, then issuing R CMD INSTALL boolean (or Rcmd INSTALL boolean in Windows).
    

  As an alternative, R users can obtain a pre-compiled package that need only be uncompressed and dropped into R/library/ or installed with the Windows menu-driven package installation facility. Versions are available that have been compiled on Unix, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows 2000. Note that the Macintosh package should work both with Stefano Iacus' stand-alone implementation of R and with Jan de Leeuw's XWindows version, and that the Windows package should work with other flavors of Windows as well.
  
  

• Users of Stata v6 and above can install a set of automated Boolean probit/logit command files. Simply run Stata and type
  
  . net from http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~bfbraum/Stata/
  
  to install using Stata's built-in installation facility. As an alternative, download a zipped set of .ado-files for use with Stata, unzip, and place the files in your personal .ado directory. Either way, when the files are installed, type
  
  . help boolean
  
  for instructions.
  
  
  
• Users of Stata v5 must use the automated batch file generator, which is available at my website. Because a packaged routine now exists, the batch file generator is not being maintained, and it cannot implement features of interest to some users (e.g., robust standard errors), but it is easy to use, flexible, and can accommodate twice as many "paths" as the packaged routine.

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