Reusing Natural Experiments

Ingrid M Werner, Davidson Heath, Matthew Ringgenberg and Mehrdad Samadi

No 14710, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: After a natural experiment is first used, other researchers often reuse the setting, examining different outcome variables. We examine the consequences of reusing an experimental setting using two extensively studied natural experiments, business combination laws and the Regulation SHO pilot. We apply multiple hypothesis corrections and our findings suggest many results in the existing literature are false positives. We provide guidelines for inference when an experiment is reused using simulation evidence for several popular empirical settings including difference-in-differences regressions, instrumental variables regressions, and regression discontinuity designs.

Keywords: False positive; Identification; Multiple hypothesis testing; Natural experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G1 G10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-ore
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Reusing Natural Experiments (2023)
Working Paper: Reusing Natural Experiments (2022)
Working Paper: Reusing Natural Experiments (2019)
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