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...

Besides the inferential errors that abound in the interpretation of p-values, the probabilistic pre-conditions (i.e. random sampling or equivalent) for using them at all are not often met by observational studies in the social sciences. This paper systematizes different sampling designs and...

An investment bubble is a period of excessive, and predictably unpro table, investment (DeMarzo, Kaniel and Kremer, 2007, p.737). Such bubbles most often accompany the arrival of some new technology, such as the tech stock boom and bust of the late 1990 s and early 2000 s. We provide a rational...

We investigate how the Federal Reserve (Fed) hit the zero lower bound (ZLB) interest rate while operating under a Taylor-type policy rule. We estimate a reaction function and the results indicate that during the crisis Fed increased the weight on output without also increasing the weight on...

Meritocracies aspire to reward effort and hard work but promise not to judge individuals by the circumstances they were born into. The choice to work hard is, however, often shaped by circumstances. This study investigates whether people's merit judgments are sensitive to this endogeneity of...