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Coefficient variance after stacking two copies of data

Question

In OLS with i.i.d. normal errors of variance σ2\sigma^2, Var⁡(β^)=σ2(X⊤X)−1\operatorname{Var}(\hat\beta)=\sigma^2(X^\top X)^{-1}. If every observation is copied once (so the dataset is the original stacked on itself) and the regression is refit to give β^′\hat\beta', what constant cc satisfies Var⁡(β^′)=cVar⁡(β^)\operatorname{Var}(\hat\beta')=c\operatorname{Var}(\hat\beta)? Enter −1-1 if there is none.

Short answer

1/21/2. Stacking the design on itself gives X′⊤X′=2X⊤XX'^\top X'=2X^\top X, so with the same error variance the formula yields half the variance. (The copies are not genuinely new information, which is why this formula overstates precision.)

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