I have missing values for some of the variables in my data. I am using pooled OLS and have 144 observations. I have missing values for three of the variables. Less than 10% of the data for each variable is missing.
What should I do with these missing values? Should I use multiple imputation or should I just omit the observations with missing values? Can I bias thw results if I use multiple imputation?
Thanks for your answer.
I am using country data for the years 2010-2012, and the missing data is on trade openness and GDP per capita.
Data on GDP per capita is missing for Syria and Cuba.
Data on trade openness measured as (export+import)/GDP is also missing for Syria along with other countries, like Myanmar, Iran, Libya and for one year for Hungary, Cambodia, and Malawi.
I can see that the missingness of data for Syria is not random, because of the war etc.The same holds for Libya and Iran. However, for trade openness there is also missing values for Hungary and Cambodia which I think is random (cant see other reasons why is should not be random).
These variables are not of interest for my regression, they are used as control variables.