Spotlight on researcher decisions: Infrastructure evaluation, instrumental variables, and specification screening

Jörg Peters, Gunther Bensch and Colin Vance

No 991, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: This paper revisits the instrumental variable (IV) approach in Lipscomb et al. (2013, 2021, LMB) to study the impacts of electrification. We first make corrections to the construction of the dataset, including the modelled IV. Revised estimates on main outcomes and mechanisms are statistically insignificant, with substantially lower effect sizes. We second develop a framework that accounts for weak IVs and discourages specification screening. Applying it to LMB, we find that most theoretically justified specifications yield insignificant results. The proposed framework is transferable to other IV applications to reduce potential bias stemming from researcher's or replicator's discretion.

Keywords: Replication; instrumental variables; electrification; infrastructure; specification curveanalysis; robust inference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C52 O13 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Spotlight on Researcher Decisions – Infrastructure Evaluation, Instrumental Variables, and Specification Screening (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:991

DOI: 10.4419/96973157

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