Influence Analysis with Panel Data

The presence of units with extreme values in the dependent and/or independent variables (i.e., vertical outliers, leveraged data) has the potential to severely bias regression coefficients and/or standard errors. This is common with short panel data because the researcher cannot advocate asymptotic theory. Example include cross-country studies, cell-group analyses, and field or laboratory experimental studies, where the researcher is forced to use few cross-sectional observations repeated over time due to the structure of the data or research design. Available diagnostic tools may fail to properly detect these anomalies, because they are not designed for panel data. In this paper, we formalise statistical measures for panel data models with fixed effects to quantify the degree of leverage and outlyingness of units, and the joint and conditional influences of pairs of units. We first develop a method to visually detect anomalous units in a panel data set, and identify their type. Second, we investigate the effect of these units on LS estimates, and on other units' influence on the estimated parameters. To illustrate and validate the proposed method, we use a synthetic data set contaminated with different types of anomalous units. We also provide an empirical example.