Am 06.09.2023 um 11:05 schrieb Alison Loddick:
Hi,
If we have time series data, we can use HAC robust standard errors;
however, with panel regression, the robust standard errors are
Arellano or PCSE. Is there a way using programming that we can do HAC
for panel regression? From what I have read, Arellano isn't as good at
dealing with serial correlation. Although I'm aware we can do dynamic
panel regression, I'm fighting with lecturers who want students to use
Eviews because you can use HAC for panel regression there.
Hi Alison,
thanks for fighting on behalf of gretl!
As mentioned in section 22.4 of the user guide, the Arellano cov
estimator for panel data can be seen as HAC (at least for small T), and
it says that an alternative denomination would be “clustered (over
entities)”.
Actually, I'm looking at the Eviews program (13) and their help files to
check out the situation there right now. There's no explicit mention of
HAC in the panel options, but you have "period cluster", "cross-section
cluster", and "two-way cluster" (all combined with the "White"
name). So
it looks like gretl's "Arellano" option is conceptually the same as
Eviews's "White period (cross-section cluster)".
What do your colleagues mean exactly when they say they use HAC for
panel regression? It's not obvious.
A related way of looking at this issue is that gretl's native panel
tools do not handle cross-sectional dependence (CSD, contemporaneous
error correlation). From your description it sounds as if the
time-dimension (within) correlation is all you want to take into account
or allow, and then you're good to go with core gretl. If, however, you
also worry (or want to teach) CSD, then I would point you to the
"CSDpanel" contributed function package written by Jörg Breitung and
myself, currently at version 0.2 from three years ago. Among some other
tools, we offer the two-way clustered standard errors suggested by
Driscoll and Kraay (1998). (I guess this should correspond to Eviews's
two-way cluster option, but I don't know why they don't mention the
names of Driscoll/Kraay or whether there are any other subtleties.)
So it seems that the only option we don't have available in the gretl
ecosystem is "White cross-section (period cluster)". Not sure how
relevant that is.
Everybody is welcome to correct me if I'm misinterpreting something in
this area.
cheers
sven