In the empirical analysis of panel data the Breusch Pagan statistic has become a standard tool to infer on unobserved heterogeneity over the cross section. Put differently, the test statistic is central to discriminate between the pooled regression and the random effects model. Conditional versions of the test statistic have been provided to immunize inference on unobserved heterogeneity agains...

Using fixed effects panel data approach, this paper empirically examines the effects of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth in 13 transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region (CEEB). Our analysis suggests that significant positive effect of trade on growth is a robust result for transition economies of this region. In addition, domestic investment ap...

We analyze how migration prevalence and remittances shape income distribution using novel panel data that is nationally and regionally representative of rural Mexico. Employing a Gini decomposition and controlling for whole household migration (attrition), we find that migration prevalence has increased between 2002 and 2007 reversing the unequalizing effects of international remittances at the...

Unconditional quantile treatment effects are difficult to estimate in the presence of fixed effects. Panel data are frequently used because fixed effects or differences are necessary to identify the parameters of interest. The inclusion of fixed effects or differencing of data, however, changes the interpretation of the estimates. This paper introduces a quantile estimator for panel data which ...

We analyse the effect of violence and rebellion on the evolution of household welfare. We collected new panel data for Burundi (1999-2007) in which we reinterviewed original as well as newly formed households (split-offs). We use several definitions of the household as unit of analysis and test for resource pooling between parental and split-off households. Focusing on the effect of civil war, ...

In this paper, we consider identification in a correlated random effects model for panel data. We assume that the likelihood for each individual in the panel is known up to a finite dimensional common parameter and an individual specific parameter. We allow the distribution of unobserved individual specific effects to depend on observed explanatory variables and make no assumptions about the pa...

Since its inception and subsequent diffusion, the Internet has been lauded as a potent democratizing agent. Using macro-level panel data from 1994 to 2003, this study examined 152 countries and found that increased Internet diffusion was a meaningful predictor of more democratic regimes. This was shown to be most true in developed countries, where non-linear fixed effects regression models show...

Panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey are used to examine the impact of involuntary job loss on the mental health of spouses and adolescent children. Estimates from fixed effects models show that the mental health of women (but not men) declines following a spouse’s job loss, but only if that job loss results in a sustained period of non-employment or if ...

Social Insurance Networks Based on administrative panel data from Norway, we examine how social insurance dependency spreads within neighborhoods, families, ethnic minorities, and among former schoolmates. We use a fixed effects methodology that accounts for endogenous group formation, contextual interactions, and time-constant as well as time-varying confounders. We report evidence that social...

Fatal motor vehicle crashes per capita remained relatively stable over the 1990s, in spite of new traffic safety laws and vehicle innovations. One explanation for this stability is that the price of gasoline declined, which resulted in more vehicle miles traveled and potentially more fatalities. By using 1983-2000 monthly gasoline price and fatality panel data and fixed effects specifications, ...