Reusing Natural Experiments
Natural experiments have become an important tool for identifying the causal relation between variables in empirical research. However, credible natural experiments that can be used to answer research questions are difficult to find. As a result, after an experiment is first used, other researchers often reuse the setting to examine the effect of the treatment on other outcome variables.
In our Journal of Finance article "Reusing Natural Experiments"(1), we discuss the issues that arise when natural experiments are reused. We hope our study contributes to the credibility revolution, not by dissuading the use of natural experiments, but rather by helping researchers make better inferences when natural experiments are reused.
On this site, you will find an overview of our Journal of Finance article, including Best Practices for reusing a natural experiment, t-Statistic Cutoffs to assist with statistical inference when reusing an experiment, and a database of existing papers that use commonly studied natural experiments.
If you know of a paper that is not in our database and wish to add it, please fill out the information on the "Add a Paper" form.
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(1) Suggested citation "Heath, Davidson, Matthew C. Ringgenberg, Mehrdad Samadi, and Ingrid M. Werner, 2022, Reusing Natural Experiments, Journal of Finance, forthcoming."