Dear Statalist,

I am currently writing a seminar paper and need some help. I am calculating the following random effects model:
Code:
xtreg mean_reg c.x1##c.x2 x3 x4, re r
My panel data has 163 observations if that is important.

With the commands -hist mean_reg- and -qnorm mean_reg- I found out that my dependent variable and the residuals are not normally distributed.
Running -gladder mean_reg- and -ladder mean_reg- suggested that I transform my variable into 1/mean_reg. With this transformation the distribution is better, but still not optimal. I attached both -qnorm- outputs.
Unfortunately, transforming the variable leads to all around insignificant coefficients. Also, as I have never seen or done a transformation like that, I would not know how to interpret the coefficients.

So my question is this: Is transforming my variable as mentioned above the only way to deal with my distribution issues? Or can I make an argument to leave my variable as it is?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Fabian