Do Better Journals Publish Better Estimates?

David Slichter and Nhan Tran
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Nhan Tran: University of Pittsburgh

No 17960, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Are estimates typically closer to the true parameter value when those estimates are published in highly-ranked economics journals? Using 14,387 published estimates from 24 large literatures, we find that, within literatures, the mean and variance of parameter estimates have little or no correlation with journal rank. Therefore, regardless of what the true parameter value is that a literature is attempting to estimate, it cannot be that estimates in higher-ranked journals are on average noticeably closer to it. We discuss possible explanations and implications.

Keywords: science of science; scientific methods; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A11 C13 C18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-sog
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Working Paper: Do better journals publish better estimates? (2023)
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