Endogeneity in Management Accounting Research: A Comment

Chenhall and Moers (European Accounting Review, this issue, pp. 173-195) provide an excellent overview of the econometrics of endogeneity. In response to their discussion I argue that researchers should be courageous enough to set aside endogeneity concerns when their research question is important. Theory does not admit a definite answer to the question whether endogeneity is present in a particular model and econometrics has few technical solutions to offer. Since we cannot be sure endogeneity exists, and if we were to be sure of its existence, there is little we can do about it, researchers are well advised to move on to more serious problems.