One way to get an estimate for such effects is through regression analysis.
In a typical multilevel model, there are level 1 & 2 residuals (R and U variables).
In a marginal model, we collapse over the level 1 & 2 residuals and thus marginalize (see also conditional probability) the joint distribution into a univariate normal distribution.
We then fit the marginal model to data.
Marginalized multilevel models and likelihood inference.