scholarly journals Let’s Talk About Fixed Effects: Let’s Talk About All the Good Things and the Bad Things

Author(s):  
Matthias Collischon ◽  
Andreas Eberl

Abstract With the broader availability of panel data, fixed effects (FE) regression models are becoming increasingly important in sociology. However, in some studies the potential pitfalls of these models may be ignored, and common critiques of FE models may not always be applicable in comparison to other methods. This article provides an overview of linear FE models and their pitfalls for applied researchers. Throughout the article, we contrast FE and classical pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) models. We argue that in most cases FE models are at least as good as pooled OLS models. Therefore, we encourage scholars to use FE models if possible. Nevertheless, the limitations of FE models should be known and considered.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Farhan Basheer ◽  
Saqib Muneer ◽  
Muhammad Atif ◽  
Zubair Ahmad

The primary purpose of the study is to explore the antecedents of corporate social and environmental responsibilities discourse practices in Pakistan. The industry sensitivity, government shareholding, block holder ownership, print media coverage, environmental monitoring programs, and strategic posture are examined as antecedents of corporate social and environmental responsibility practices. A multidimensional theoretical perspective namely stakeholder theory (ST), institutional theory (IT), agency theory (PAT), and legitimacy theory (LT) is used to conceptualize the phenomena. All the four of perspective theories (positive accounting theory, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and institutional theory) claim that there are ‘pressures’ that impact the organization. How much ‘pressures’ are recognized, managed or satisfied differs from one perspective of theory to the other. To estimate the data, this study uses three sets of panel data models, i.e., the pooled ordinary least squares model (POLS) or constant coefficients model, fixed effects (FEM or least squares dummy variable/LSDV model) and random-effects models. The final sample is comprising of 173 firms over eight years from 2011 to 2017. The firms listed in PSX are included in the sample. Overall the findings of the study have shown agreement with the proposed results. However, the study has provided more support to the institutional theory and stakeholder theory. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholders Theory, Agency Theory, Pakistan


Author(s):  
Mara Madaleno ◽  
Victor Moutinho

Decreased greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are urgently needed in view of global health threat represented by climate change. The goal of this paper is to test the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering less common measures of environmental burden. For that, four different estimations are done, one considering total GHG emissions, and three more taking into account, individually, the three main GHG gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane gas (CH4)—considering the oldest and most recent economies adhering to the EU27 (the EU 15 (Old Europe) and the EU 12 (New Europe)) separately. Using panel dynamic fixed effects (DFE), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques, we validate the existence of a U-shaped relationship for all emission proxies considered, and groups of countries in the short-run. Some evidence of this effect also exists in the long-run. However, we were only able to validate the EKC hypothesis for the short-run in EU 12 under DOLS and the short and long-run using FMOLS. Confirmed is the fact that results are sensitive to models and measures adopted. Externalization of problems globally takes a longer period for national policies to correct, turning global measures harder and local environmental proxies more suitable to deeply explore the EKC hypothesis.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D Allison

Standard fixed effects methods presume that effects of variables are symmetric: the effect of increasing a variable is the same as the effect of decreasing that variable but in the opposite direction. This is implausible for many social phenomena. York and Light (2017) showed how to estimate asymmetric models by estimating first-difference regressions in which the difference scores for the predictors are decomposed into positive and negative changes. In this paper, I show that there are several aspects of their method that need improvement. I also develop a data generating model that justifies the first-difference method but can be applied in more general settings. In particular, it can be used to construct asymmetric logistic regression models.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1161-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Long ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Haiyan Song

This study investigates whether pooling can improve the forecasting performance of tourism demand models. The short-term domestic tourism demand forecasts for 341 cities in China using panel data (pooled) models are compared with individual ordinary least squares (OLS) and naïve benchmark models. The pooled OLS model demonstrates much worse forecasting performance than the other models. This indicates the huge heterogeneity of tourism across cities in China. A marked improvement with the inclusion of fixed effects suggests that destination features that stay the same or vary very little over time can explain most of the heterogeneity. Adding spatial effects to the panel data models also increases forecasting accuracy, although the improvement is small. The spatial distribution of spillover effects is drawn on a map and a spatial pattern is recognized. Finally, when both spatial and temporal effects are taken into account, pooling improves forecasting performance.


Author(s):  
Abdullah Abdulaziz Bawazir ◽  
Mohamed Aslam ◽  
Ahmad Farid Osman

This study examines the relationship between population aging and economic growth in a panel of 10 selected Middle East countries for the period of 1996–2016. For this purpose, this study uses two different measures of population aging, namely population aged 65 and over and old dependency ratio, to investigate their impacts on economic growth. The study utilizes the three alternative models of static panel data comprised of the pooled ordinary least squares, random effects, and fixed effects. The results of the robust fixed effects model indicate that the population aged 65 and over and the old dependency ratio have a positive effect on economic growth. The finding supports the argument indicating that an aging population does not necessarily adversely affect economic growth in the developing countries as it does in the developed countries. Therefore, the elderly population is not a matter of concern for the Middle East and the mechanisms through which the effect can take place are savings behavior and human capital accumulation of the individuals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311982644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Allison

Standard fixed-effects methods presume that effects of variables are symmetric: The effect of increasing a variable is the same as the effect of decreasing that variable but in the opposite direction. This is implausible for many social phenomena. York and Light showed how to estimate asymmetric models by estimating first-difference regressions in which the difference scores for the predictors are decomposed into positive and negative changes. In this article, I show that there are several aspects of their method that need improvement. I also develop a data-generating model that justifies the first-difference method but can be applied in more general settings. In particular, it can be used to construct asymmetric logistic regression models.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nedra Baklouti ◽  
Younes Boujelbene

There is considerable debate over the effects of both corruption and shadow economy on growth, but few studies have considered how the interaction between them might affect economic growth. We study how corruption levels in public administration affect economic growth and how this effect depends on the shadow economy. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), fixed effects, and system generalized method of moments (GMM) on a dataset of 34 OECD countries over the period 1995-2014. The estimation results indicate that increased corruption and a larger shadow economy lead to decrease in economic growth. Results additionally indicate that the shadow economy magnifies the effect of corruption on economic growth. These results imply significant complementarities between corruption and the shadow economy, suggesting that the reduction of corruption will lead to a fall in the size of the shadow economy and will also reduce the negative effects of corruption on economic growth through the underground economy.


1996 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Geladi ◽  
Harald Martens

Regression and calibration play an important role in analytical chemistry. All analytical instrumentation is dependent on a calibration that uses some regression model for a set of calibration samples. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method of building a multivariate linear regression (MLR) model has strict limitations. Therefore, biased or regularised regression models have been introduced. Some selected ones are ridge regression (RR), principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares regression (PLS or PLSR). Also, artificial neural networks (ANN) based on back-propagation can be used as regression models. In order to understand regression models more is needed than just a set of statistical parameters. A deeper understanding of the underlying chemistry and physics is always equally important. For spectral data this means that a basic understanding of spectra and their errors is useful and that spectral representation should be included in judging the usefulness of the data treatment. A “constructed” spectrometric example is introduced. It consists of real spectrometric measurements in the range 408–1176 nm for 26 calibration samples and 10 test samples. The main response variable is litmus concentration, but other constituents such as bromocresolgreen and ZnO are added as interferents and also the pH is changed. The example is introduced as a tutorial. All calculations are shown in detail in Matlab. This makes it easy for the reader to follow and understand the calculations. It also makes the calculations completely traceable. The raw data are available as a file. In Part 1, the emphasis is on pretreatment of the data and on visualisation in different stages of the calculations. Part 1 ends with principal component regression calculations. Partial least squares calculations and some ANN results are presented in Part 2.


Author(s):  
Nzingoula Gildas Crepin

<div><p><em>This article highlights through a panel data approach the determinants of economic growth; observed over the last decade in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and necessary to reach emerging economies stage. To do this, we essentially used Stata 12 software to come up with the results, and a panel data sample comprising six CEMAC member states, namely Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Chad, for the period ranging from 2000 to 2013. The results obtained after estimating ordinary least squares, fixed effects model, random effects model, generalized method of moments (GMM) and specification tests show that the best model to estimate these types of data is the fixed effects model. Besides, the main determinants of economic growth in CEMAC over that period are Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and loans lending to the economy (LOAN). After estimation, FDI is found positive and significant on economic growth, while LOAN is significant and found negative maybe due to lack of good governance.</em></p></div>


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