Combining Two Datasets with Different Years

[Zaim Razan]

Hello,

So I have two datasets with different observations, and I want to combine these two into one dataset to run a cross-sectional regression. The thing is, these two datasets were collected at different years. Can I proceed with my regression if these two datasets were not collected at the same time? As for my reason to combine these two datasets is that I want my data to better represent the population, as these two datasets are from different regions.

Thank you for your help

[Andrew Musau]

I assume you are using the same variables and intend to append the datasets. One issue you might encounter is the difficulty in distinguishing whether any differences between the samples are due to regional differences or time differences, as these coincide in this instance (i.time=i.region). If the time difference is small, the differences are likely attributable to regional variations. Since the analysis is descriptive, you only need to inform the reader that the samples are collected at different times from each region.