Python vs Stata

Python and Stata are two of the most popular languages used for economics research (source). However, there are several key differences between them. Stata is a highly specialized language intended for mainly statistical analysis, while Python is a general-purpose programming language.

This chapter is intended to give you a brief overview of the differences between Python and Stata. We will cover the history of the programming languages, how they function and key differences regarding how they interact with data. We hope that this chapter will help you determine which programming language is right for you. If you are a teacher, the Economics Pedagogy subchapter will hopefully help you choose the appropriate language to help teach your course. Furthermore, as the remainder of this textbook is written entirely in Python, the final subchapter (Syntax) will aim to help experienced Stata users become more familiar with Python.