English

fixest: A fast and feature-rich framework for econometric estimations in R

Econometrics 2026-04-06 v2

Abstract

fixest is an R package for fast and flexible econometric estimation. It provides a unified framework for applied research, with comprehensive support for a diverse class of models: ordinary least squares, instrumental variables, generalized linear models, maximum likelihood, and difference-in-differences. The package particularly excels at fixed-effects estimation, supported by a novel fixed-point acceleration algorithm implemented in C++. This algorithm achieves rapid convergence across a variety of data contexts and enables efficient estimation of complex models, including those with varying slopes. An expressive formula interface facilitates multiple estimations, stepwise regressions, and variable interpolation in a single call. Users can adjust inference strategies on the fly, choosing from an array of built-in robust standard errors. The package also provides methods for publication-ready regression tables and coefficient plots. Benchmarks demonstrate that fixest offers best-in-class performance against leading alternatives in R, PYTHON, and JULIA.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.21749,
  title  = {fixest: A fast and feature-rich framework for econometric estimations in R},
  author = {Laurent R. Bergé and Kyle Butts and Grant McDermott},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.21749},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

56 pages, 12 tables, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:25:45.444Z