Pooled regression and dummy variables

I'm a bit of a novice with excel. I have a dataset of
national ststistics which only has a few years so I can't
run a time series regression with any confidence. Also
there aren't enough categories to run a cross-sectional
analysis with any confidence. This is the only dataset
available for what I need and have been advised that a
pooled regression (time series cross sectional
regression) using dummy variables is the best way - I
don't know how to do this on excel though.

Thanks for any help

Kev Summersgill -

I'm a bit of a novice with excel. I have a dataset of national ststistics
which only has a few years so I can't run a time series regression with any
confidence. Also there aren't enough categories to run a cross-sectional
analysis with any confidence. This is the only dataset available for what I
need and have been advised that a pooled regression (time series cross
sectional regression) using dummy variables is the best way - I don't know
how to do this on excel though.

If you describe what you mean by "pooled regression (time series cross
sectional regression) using dummy variables," someone will probably respond
with instructions on how to do it in Excel.

(1) What do you mean by "pooled"?

(2) Usually I distinguish between time-series data and cross-sectional data.
What do you mean by "time series cross sectional regression"?

(3) Dummy variables are usually indicator variables with possible values
zero and one (indicating the presence or absence of some characteristic). My
book, "Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel: Updated for Office XP," has
several examples using indicator variables for both cross-sectional and
time-series regression.

(4) If your data is reasonably well-behaved (e.g., no outliers), Excel's
Regression tool or the array-entered LINEST worksheet function will probably
provide satisfactory results (for a maximum of sixteen explanatory
variables).

- Mike Middleton, www.usfca.edu/~middleton