Macroeconomic models that are based on either the rational expectations hypothesis (REH) or behavioral considerations share a core premise: All future market outcomes can be characterized ex ante with a single overarching probability distribution. This paper assesses the empirical relevance of...

The importance of replicating economic research to improve the validity of findings has been the topic of an ongoing discussion, but there is not a consensus about what that means in practice. This article discusses a rationale for replicating a study and offers a plan of how one might go about...

In 2011, the Annual Report of the Editor of the American Economic Review reported that the journal’s data-code archive was functioning well, and no changes were made to the archive rules. This was based on an audit of the archive that the Editor had commissioned. In point of fact, all was not...

Despite the formal rigour that attends social and economic measurement, the substantive meaning of particular measures could be compromised in the absence of a clear and coherent conceptualization of the phenomenon being measured. A case in point is afforded by the status of a "focus-axiom" in...

The author argues that researchers should do replications using preanalysis plans. These plans should specify at least three characteristics that would act as stopping rules for the replicator: (1) how much flowtime the replicator will spend, (2) how much money and effort (working hours) the...

The authours use information gathered from 122 studies on the effects of high school diplomas on wages in different countries worldwide to carry out a meta-analysis that shows high school diplomas have a statistically significant effect on wages of nearly 8%. This effect varies whether the...

The distinction of risk vs uncertainty as made by Knight has important implications for policy selection. Assuming the former when the latter is relevant can lead to wrong decisions. With the aid of a stylized model that describes a bank’s decision on how to allocate loans, the authors discuss...

A meta-analysis (MA) aggregates estimated effects from many studies to calculate a single, overall effect. There is no one, generally accepted procedure for how to do this. Several estimators are commonly used, though little is known about their relative performance. A complication arises when...

Replication crisis and debates about p-values have raised doubts about what we can statistically infer from research findings, both in experimental and observational studies. With a view to the ongoing debate on inferential errors, this paper systematizes and discusses experimental designs with...

In July 2017, Economics: The Open Access, Open Assessment E-Journal issued a call for papers for a special issue on “The Practice of Replication.” In that call, the journal explained that there was no generally accepted procedure for how to do a replication. Likewise, there was no generally...