Abstract Panel data characterized by groupwise heteroscedasticity, cross-sectional correlation, and AR(1) serial correlation pose problems for econometric analyses. It is well known that the asymptotically efficient, FGLS estimator (Parks) sometimes performs poorly in finite samples. In a widely cited paper, Beck and Katz (1995) claim that their estimator (PCSE) is able to produce more accurate coefficient standard errors without any loss in efficiency in “practical research situations.” This study disputes that claim. We find that the PCSE estimator is usually less efficient than Parks -- and substantially so -- except when the number of time periods is close to the number of cross-sections. JEL Categories: C23, C15 Keywords: Panel data estimation, Monte Carlo analysis, FGLS, Parks, PCSE, finite sample *The corresponding author is W. Robert Reed, Professor of Economics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: bobreednz@yahoo.com. Phone: +64 3 364 2846. Fax: +64 3 364 2635. Acknowledgments: An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the University of Oklahoma, and the 11
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