Estimating consumer demand for Austria

 

I have just finished two drafts of my thesis, which I’d be happy to get some feedback on

Estimating consumer demand for Austria

Abstract Price and income impact consumption patterns. An Almost Ideal Demand System is estimated for Austria to find expenditure, own and cross price elasticities for 12 broadly defined consumption groups. Results are compared to results from Finland, Denkmark, Norway and the Netherlands. A simple log-linear model yields similar own price elasticities for most categories, except for Clothing and Furnishings which show significant cross elasticities. The micEconAids package for R was extended to facilitate estimation of AIDS in first difference and calculate standard errors of elasticities with respect demand shifters.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19155359/thesis1ConsumerDemandAnalaysis_JohannesKutsam_draft20130702.pdf

Eurostat in R in GIT

 

I have published the source for the free read.eurostat() in R at https://github.com/toprach/eurostat_r.git

Users of STATA can buy my stata version  from here: https://sites.google.com/site/eustatuse/

 

Update: I have just found out that the rdatamarket library can also download data from EUROSTAT so you may have a look at it too.

install.packages(“rdatamarket”)
library(rdatamarket)
dmlist(http://data.is/PllzbZ)

My impression is that rdatamarket is a little slower than my implementation – but rdatamarket gives access to UN, Eurostat, Worldbank, FAO, and other providers – via a single Interface. I guess I will use my library for EUROSTAT and rdatamarket for the other sources.

There is also a library WDI  to access Worldbank data directly from R.

Downloading datasets from EUROSTAT with R

 

read.eurostat(datasetname, LANGUAGE=”en”)

Is a function I have written to facilitate the downloading and creation of data.table objects from eurostat data.

 

library is used to download data from eurostat and to find datasets
#later extend to extend to find datasets with certain dimensions

#download data from eurostat
#unpack and convert to dataframe
#load label descriptions
#load factors
#save as r data object

datasetname

#this="jvs_a_nace2"

LANGUAGE="en"

 

read.eurostat=function(datasetname,LANGUAGE="en",save=FALSE){
  library(RCurl)
  library(data.table)
  library(reshape)
  library(stringr)
 
  baseurl="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/NavTree_prod/everybody/BulkDownloadListing?sort=1&file=data%2F"
 
  fullfilename=paste(datasetname,".tsv.gz",sep="")
  temp <- paste(tempfile(),".gz",sep="")
  download.file(paste(baseurl,fullfilename,sep=""),temp)
  dataconnection <- gzfile(temp)
  d=read.delim(dataconnection)
  longdata=melt(d,id=colnames(d)[1])
 
  firstname=colnames(d)[1] # remove .time and count how many headings are there
  firstname=substr(firstname,1,nchar(firstname)-nchar(".time"))
  headings=toupper(strsplit(firstname,".",fixed=TRUE)[[1]])
  headingcount=length(headings)
  colnames(longdata)=c("dimensions","time","value")
 
 
  #get the data on the dimension tables
  df=data.frame(dimensions=as.character(longdata[,"dimensions"]))
  df = transform(df, dimensions= colsplit(dimensions, split = "\\,",names=headings))
  dimensions=data.table(df$dimensions)
 
  #download the dimension labels - save headings as better variable
  dimfile=paste("http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/NavTree_prod/everybody/BulkDownloadListing?sort=1&file=dic%2F",LANGUAGE,"%2Fdimlst.dic",sep="")
 
  temp <- paste(tempfile(),".gz",sep="")
  download.file(dimfile,temp)
  dataconnection <- gzfile(temp)
  dimdata=read.delim(dataconnection,header=FALSE)
  colnames(dimdata)=c("colname","desc")
  lab=dimdata$desc
  names(lab)=dimdata$colname
 
  #create  headings that speak for themselves for columns
  speakingheadings=as.character(lab[headings])
 
  #download factors for each heading and add
  for(heading in headings){
    factorfile=paste("http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/NavTree_prod/everybody/BulkDownloadListing?sort=1&file=dic%2F",LANGUAGE,"%2F",tolower(heading),".dic",sep="")
    temp <- paste(tempfile(),".gz",sep="")
    download.file(factorfile,temp)
    dataconnection <- gzfile(temp)
    factordata=read.delim(dataconnection,header=FALSE)
    colnames(factordata)=c(heading,paste(heading,"_desc",sep=""))
    #join the heading to the heading dataset
    dimensions=merge(dimensions,factordata,by=heading,all.x=TRUE)
  }
 
 
    #at the end at speaking headings
  setnames(dimensions,colnames(dimensions)[1:length(speakingheadings)],speakingheadings)
 
    #add data columns by writing and reading again---FASTER ;-)
  temp=tempfile()
  values=data.frame(value=as.character(longdata$value),stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
  v=try(transform(values, value= colsplit(value, split = "\\ ",names=c("value","flag"))),silent=TRUE)
 
 
  if(class(v)=="try-error"){
    print("there are no flags")
    values=data.table(values)
    values$value=as.character(values$value)
    values$value=as.double(values$value)
  }else{
    values=v$value
    values=data.table(values)
    values$value=as.character(values$value)
    values$value=as.double(values$value)
    values$flag=as.character(values$flag)
    values[value==flag,flag:=NA]
  }
 
  #fix the time column
  identifytimedim=as.character(longdata$time[1])
 
  #TODO continue here: identify Q for quarter, M for month, - if non YEAR
  if found Q then zoo -> Q  else zoo -> M
  as.yearqtr("200706", "%Y%m")
  grep(,"\\")
 
 
  eurostatdata=cbind(dimensions,time=longdata$time,values)
  if(save) save(eurostatdata,file=paste(datasetname,".RData",sep=""))
  eurostatdata
}
 
 

follow up: using texreg with systemfit

 

I improved the code from the last post. This now also works with with systemfit objects with multiple regressions.

 

#adjusted to allow regression results from the systemfit package to be printed
#use as mytexreg(systemfitobject , ...)  the syntax is identical to texreg
#author: johannes.kutsam@gmail.com july 29th, 2012
#license: public domain

library(texreg)
mytexreg=texreg # make a copy of the original
body(mytexreg)=body(texreg2) #replace the function body

generic=setClass("generic",
                 representation(tab="matrix",gof="matrix"),
                 prototype=list(tab=matrix(0,0,0),gof=matrix(0,0,0)))

 

systemfit2texreg=function(s){
  eqlist=list()
  for(eq in s$eq){
    sum=summary(eq)
    tab=coef(sum)
    tab=tab[,-3] # remove t values
    r=sum$r.squared
    radj=sum$adj.r.squared
    n=nobs(s)
    gof=matrix(c(r,radj,n),ncol=1)
    row.names(gof)=c("R$^2$","Adj. R$^2$","Num. obs.")
    mygen=generic(tab=tab,gof=gof)
    eqlist[[eq$eqnNo]]=mygen
  }
  eqlist
}

extract.generic=function(model){
  if(!class(model)=="generic"){
    stop("Internal error: Incorrect model type! Should be a systemfit object")
  }
  list(tab=model@tab,gof=model@gof)
}

texreg2=function (l, single.row = FALSE, no.margin = TRUE, leading.zero = TRUE,
          table = TRUE, sideways = FALSE, float.pos = "", strong.signif = FALSE,
          symbol = "\\cdot", use.packages = TRUE, caption = "Statistical models",
          label = "table:coefficients", dcolumn = TRUE, booktabs = TRUE,
          scriptsize = FALSE, custom.names = NA, model.names = NA)
{
  string <- ""
  if (class(l)[1] == "ergm" | class(l)[1] == "lme" | class(l)[1] ==
    "lm" | class(l)[1] == "gls" | class(l)[1] == "glm" | class(l)[1]=="generic") {
    l <- list(l)
  }
  else if (class(l) != "list") {
    stop("Unknown object was handed over.")
  }
  models <- NULL
  for (i in 1:length(l)) {
    if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "ergm") {
      model <- extract.ergm(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "lme") {
      model <- extract.lme(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "lm") {
      model <- extract.lm(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "gls") {
      model <- extract.gls(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "glm") {
      model <- extract.glm(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else if (class(l[[i]])[1] == "generic") {
      model <- extract.generic(l[[i]])
      models <- append(models, list(model))
    }
    else {
      warning(paste("Skipping unknown model of type ",
                    class(l[[i]]), ".", sep = ""))
    }
  }
  gof.names <- character()
  for (i in 1:length(models)) {
    for (j in 1:length(models[[i]][[2]])) {
      if (!row.names(models[[i]][[2]])[j] %in% gof.names) {
        gof.names <- append(gof.names, row.names(models[[i]][[2]])[j])
      }
    }
  }
  coefs <- list()
  gofs <- matrix(nrow = length(gof.names), ncol = length(models))
  row.names(gofs) <- gof.names
  for (i in 1:length(models)) {
    coefs <- append(coefs, models[[i]][1])
    for (j in 1:length(models[[i]][[2]])) {
      rn <- row.names(models[[i]][[2]])[j]
      val <- models[[i]][[2]][j]
      col <- i
      row <- which(row.names(gofs) == rn)
      gofs[row, col] <- val
    }
  }
  coef.order <- character()
  for (i in 1:length(coefs)) {
    for (j in 1:length(rownames(coefs[[i]]))) {
      if (!rownames(coefs[[i]])[j] %in% coef.order) {
        coef.order <- append(coef.order, rownames(coefs[[i]])[j])
      }
    }
  }
  if (length(coefs) == 1) {
    m <- coefs[[1]]
  }
  else if (length(coefs) > 1) {
    m <- coefs[[1]]
    for (i in 2:length(coefs)) {
      m <- merge(m, coefs[[i]], by = 0, all = TRUE)
      rownames(m) <- m[, 1]
      m <- m[, colnames(m) != "Row.names"]
      colnames(m) <- NULL
    }
  }
  colnames(m) <- rep(colnames(coefs[[1]]), length(coefs))
  m.temp <- matrix(nrow = nrow(m), ncol = ncol(m))
  for (i in 1:nrow(m)) {
    new.row <- which(coef.order == rownames(m)[i])
    for (j in 1:length(m[i, ])) {
      m.temp[new.row, j] <- m[i, j]
    }
  }
  rownames(m.temp) <- coef.order
  colnames(m.temp) <- colnames(m)
  m <- m.temp
  if (length(custom.names) > 1) {
    if (!class(custom.names) == "character") {
      stop("Custom coefficient names must be provided as a vector of strings!")
    }
    else if (length(custom.names) != length(rownames(m))) {
      stop(paste("There are", length(rownames(m)), "coefficients, but you provided",
                 length(custom.names), "custom names for them."))
    }
    else {
      rownames(m) <- custom.names
    }
  }
  else if (!is.na(custom.names) & class(custom.names) != "character") {
    stop("Custom coefficient names must be provided as a vector of strings.")
  }
  else if (length(custom.names) == 1 & class(custom.names) ==
    "character") {
    rownames(m) <- custom.names
  }
  for (i in 1:length(rownames(m))) {
    for (j in 1:length(rownames(m))) {
      if (i != j & rownames(m)[i] == rownames(m)[j]) {
        identical <- logical(length(m[i, ]))
        for (k in 1:length(m[i, ])) {
          if ((is.na(m[i, k]) & !is.na(m[j, k])) | (!is.na(m[i,
                                                             k]) & is.na(m[j, k])) | (is.na(m[i, k]) &
                                                               is.na(m[j, k]))) {
            identical[k] <- TRUE
          }
        }
        if (length(identical[identical == FALSE]) ==
          0) {
          for (k in 1:ncol(m)) {
            if (is.na(m[i, k])) {
              m[i, k] <- m[j, k]
            }
            else if (is.na(m[j, k])) {
              m[j, k] <- m[i, k]
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
  m <- m[duplicated(m) == FALSE, ]
  m <- as.data.frame(m)
  lab.list <- c(rownames(m), gof.names)
  lab.length <- 0
  for (i in 1:length(lab.list)) {
    if (nchar(lab.list[i]) > lab.length) {
      lab.length <- nchar(lab.list[i])
    }
  }
  string <- paste(string, "\n", sep = "")
  if (use.packages == TRUE) {
    if (sideways == TRUE & table == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, "\\usepackage{rotating}\n",
                      sep = "")
    }
    if (booktabs == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, "\\usepackage{booktabs}\n",
                      sep = "")
    }
    if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, "\\usepackage{dcolumn}\n\n",
                      sep = "")
    }
  }
  if (table == TRUE) {
    if (sideways == TRUE) {
      t <- "sideways"
    }
    else {
      t <- ""
    }
    if (float.pos == "") {
      string <- paste(string, "\\begin{", t, "table}\n",
                      sep = "")
    }
    else {
      string <- paste(string, "\\begin{", t, "table}[",
                      float.pos, "]\n", sep = "")
    }
    string <- paste(string, "\\begin{center}\n", sep = "")
    if (scriptsize == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, "\\scriptsize\n", sep = "")
    }
  }
  string <- paste(string, "\\begin{tabular}{l ", sep = "")
  for (i in 1:length(models)) {
    gof.list <- as.vector(gofs[, i])
    gof.list.string <- NULL
    for (j in 1:length(gof.list)) {
      gof.list.string[j] <- coef.to.string(gof.list[j],
                                           leading.zero)
    }
    if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
      dec.left <- max(c(nchar(gof.list.string) - 3), 3)
      if (single.row == TRUE) {
        dec.right <- 3
        separator <- ")"
        dec.left <- 11
      }
      else {
        dec.right <- 5
        separator <- "."
      }
      if (no.margin == FALSE) {
        margin.arg <- ""
      }
      else {
        margin.arg <- "@{}"
      }
      string <- paste(string, "D{", separator, "}{", separator,
                      "}{", dec.left, separator, dec.right, "} ", margin.arg,
                      sep = "")
    }
    else {
      string <- paste(string, "c ", sep = "")
    }
  }
  if (booktabs == TRUE) {
    string <- paste(string, "}\n", "\\toprule\n", sep = "")
  }
  else {
    string <- paste(string, "}\n", "\\hline\n", sep = "")
  }
  for (k in 1:lab.length) {
    string <- paste(string, " ", sep = "")
  }
  if (length(model.names) > 1) {
    if (class(model.names) != "character") {
      stop("Model names must be specified as a vector of strings.")
    }
    else if (length(model.names) != length(l)) {
      stop(paste("There are", length(l), "models, but you provided",
                 length(model.names), "names for them."))
    }
    else {
      if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
        for (i in 1:length(l)) {
          string <- paste(string, " & \\multicolumn{1}{c}{",
                          model.names[i], "}", sep = "")
        }
      }
      else {
        for (i in 1:length(l)) {
          string <- paste(string, " & ", model.names[i],
                          sep = "")
        }
      }
    }
  }
  else if (!is.na(model.names) & class(model.names) != "character") {
    stop("Model names must be specified as a vector of strings.")
  }
  else if (class(model.names) == "character" & length(model.names) !=
    length(l)) {
    stop(paste("A single model name was specified. But there are in fact",
               length(l), "models."))
  }
  else if (class(model.names) == "character") {
    if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, " & \\multicolumn{1}{c}{",
                      model.names, "}", sep = "")
    }
    else {
      string <- paste(string, " & ", model.names, sep = "")
    }
  }
  else {
    if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
      for (i in 1:length(l)) {
        string <- paste(string, " & \\multicolumn{1}{c}{Model ",
                        i, "}", sep = "")
      }
    }
    else {
      for (i in 1:length(l)) {
        string <- paste(string, " & Model ", i, sep = "")
      }
    }
  }
  if (booktabs == TRUE) {
    string <- paste(string, " \\\\\n", "\\midrule\n", sep = "")
  }
  else {
    string <- paste(string, " \\\\\n", "\\hline\n", sep = "")
  }
  if (single.row == TRUE) {
    output.matrix <- matrix(ncol = (length(m)/3) + 1, nrow = length(m[,
                                                                      1]))
    for (i in 1:length(rownames(m))) {
      output.matrix[i, 1] <- rownames(m)[i]
    }
    for (i in 1:length(m[, 1])) {
      j <- 1
      k <- 2
      while (j <= length(m)) {
        if (is.na(m[i, j])) {
          output.matrix[i, k] <- ""
        }
        else if (m[i, j] == -Inf) {
          output.matrix[i, k] <- "-Inf (NA)"
        }
        else {
          std <- paste(" \\; (", coef.to.string(m[i,
                                                  j + 1], leading.zero), ")", sep = "")
          if (strong.signif == TRUE) {
            if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.001) {
              p <- "^{***}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.01) {
              p <- "^{**}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.05) {
              p <- "^{*}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.1) {
              p <- paste("^{", symbol, "}", sep = "")
            }
            else {
              p <- ""
            }
          }
          else {
            if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.01) {
              p <- "^{***}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.05) {
              p <- "^{**}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.1) {
              p <- "^{*}"
            }
            else {
              p <- ""
            }
          }
          if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
            dollar <- ""
          }
          else {
            dollar <- "$"
          }
          entry <- paste(dollar, coef.to.string(m[i,
                                                  j], leading.zero), std, p, dollar, sep = "")
          output.matrix[i, k] <- entry
        }
        k <- k + 1
        j <- j + 3
      }
    }
  }
  else {
    output.matrix <- matrix(ncol = (length(m)/3) + 1, nrow = 2 *
      length(m[, 1]))
    for (i in 1:length(rownames(m))) {
      output.matrix[(i * 2) - 1, 1] <- rownames(m)[i]
      output.matrix[(i * 2), 1] <- ""
    }
    for (i in 1:length(m[, 1])) {
      j <- 1
      k <- 2
      while (j <= length(m)) {
        if (is.na(m[i, j])) {
          output.matrix[(i * 2) - 1, k] <- ""
          output.matrix[(i * 2), k] <- ""
        }
        else if (m[i, j] == -Inf) {
          output.matrix[(i * 2) - 1, k] <- "-Inf"
          output.matrix[(i * 2), k] <- "(NA)"
        }
        else {
          if (strong.signif == TRUE) {
            if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.001) {
              p <- "^{***}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.01) {
              p <- "^{**}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.05) {
              p <- "^{*}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.1) {
              p <- paste("^{", symbol, "}", sep = "")
            }
            else {
              p <- ""
            }
          }
          else {
            if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.01) {
              p <- "^{***}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.05) {
              p <- "^{**}"
            }
            else if (m[i, j + 2] <= 0.1) {
              p <- "^{*}"
            }
            else {
              p <- ""
            }
          }
          if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
            dollar <- ""
          }
          else {
            dollar <- "$"
          }
          output.matrix[(i * 2) - 1, k] <- paste(dollar,
                                                 coef.to.string(m[i, j], leading.zero), p,
                                                 dollar, sep = "")
          output.matrix[(i * 2), k] <- paste(dollar,
                                             "(", coef.to.string(m[i, j + 1], leading.zero),
                                             ")", dollar, sep = "")
        }
        k <- k + 1
        j <- j + 3
      }
    }
  }
  if (dcolumn == TRUE) {
    dollar <- ""
  }
  else {
    dollar <- "$"
  }
  gof.matrix <- matrix(nrow = nrow(gofs), ncol = ncol(gofs) +
    1)
  for (i in 1:length(gofs[, 1])) {
    gof.matrix[i, 1] <- rownames(gofs)[i]
    for (j in 1:length(gofs[1, ])) {
      strg <- coef.to.string(gofs[i, j], leading.zero)
      rn <- rownames(gofs)[i]
      if (rn == "Num. obs." | rn == "n" | rn == "N" | rn ==
        "N obs" | rn == "N obs." | rn == "nobs" | rn ==
        "n obs" | rn == "n obs." | rn == "n.obs." | rn ==
        "N.obs." | rn == "N. obs" | rn == "Num observations" |
        rn == "Number of observations" | rn == "Num obs" |
        rn == "num obs" | rn == "Num. observations" |
        rn == "Num Observations" | rn == "Num. Observations" |
        rn == "Num. Obs." | rn == "Num.Obs." | rn ==
        "Number obs." | rn == "Number Obs." | rn == "Number obs" |
        rn == "Number Obs" | rn == "Number of Obs." |
        rn == "Number of obs." | rn == "Number of obs" |
        rn == "Number of Obs" | rn == "Obs" | rn == "obs" |
        rn == "Obs." | rn == "obs.") {
        strg <- substring(strg, 1, nchar(strg) - 3)
      }
      gof.matrix[i, j + 1] <- paste(dollar, strg, dollar,
                                    sep = "")
    }
  }
  output.matrix <- rbind(output.matrix, gof.matrix)
  max.lengths <- numeric(length(output.matrix[1, ]))
  for (i in 1:length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
    max.length <- 0
    for (j in 1:length(output.matrix[, 1])) {
      if (nchar(output.matrix[j, i]) > max.length) {
        max.length <- nchar(output.matrix[j, i])
      }
    }
    max.lengths[i] <- max.length
  }
  for (i in 1:length(output.matrix[, 1])) {
    for (j in 1:length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
      nzero <- max.lengths[j] - nchar(output.matrix[i,
                                                    j])
      zeros <- rep(" ", nzero)
      zeros <- paste(zeros, collapse = "")
      output.matrix[i, j] <- paste(output.matrix[i, j],
                                   zeros, sep = "")
    }
  }
  for (i in 1:(length(output.matrix[, 1]) - length(gof.names))) {
    for (j in 1:length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
      string <- paste(string, output.matrix[i, j], sep = "")
      if (j == length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
        string <- paste(string, " \\\\\n", sep = "")
      }
      else {
        string <- paste(string, " & ", sep = "")
      }
    }
  }
  if (booktabs == TRUE) {
    string <- paste(string, "\\midrule\n", sep = "")
  }
  else {
    string <- paste(string, "\\hline\n", sep = "")
  }
  for (i in (length(output.matrix[, 1]) - (length(gof.names) -
    1)):(length(output.matrix[, 1]))) {
    for (j in 1:length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
      string <- paste(string, output.matrix[i, j], sep = "")
      if (j == length(output.matrix[1, ])) {
        string <- paste(string, " \\\\\n", sep = "")
      }
      else {
        string <- paste(string, " & ", sep = "")
      }
    }
  }
  if (booktabs == TRUE) {
    string <- paste(string, "\\bottomrule\n", sep = "")
  }
  else {
    string <- paste(string, "\\hline\n", sep = "")
  }
  string <- paste(string, "\\vspace{-2mm}\\\\\n", sep = "")
  if (strong.signif == TRUE) {
    string <- paste(string, "\\multicolumn{", length(l) +
      1, "}{l}{\\textsuperscript{***}$p<0.001$, ", "\\textsuperscript{**}$p<0.01$, \\textsuperscript{*}$p<0.05$, ",
                    "\\textsuperscript{$", symbol, "$}$p<0.1$}\n", sep = "")
  }
  else {
    string <- paste(string, "\\multicolumn{", length(l) +
      1, "}{l}{\\textsuperscript{***}$p<0.01$, ", "\\textsuperscript{**}$p<0.05$, \\textsuperscript{*}$p<0.1$}\n",
                    sep = "")
  }
  string <- paste(string, "\\end{tabular}\n", sep = "")
  if (table == TRUE) {
    if (scriptsize == TRUE) {
      string <- paste(string, "\\normalsize\n", sep = "")
    }
    string <- paste(string, "\\end{center}\n", sep = "")
    string <- paste(string, "\\caption{", caption, "}\n",
                    sep = "")
    string <- paste(string, "\\label{", label, "}\n", sep = "")
    if (sideways == TRUE) {
      t <- "sideways"
    }
    else {
      t <- ""
    }
    string <- paste(string, "\\end{", t, "table}\n", sep = "")
  }
  cat(string)
  return(string)
}