Does economics add up? An introduction to meta-regression analysis

Abstract

Meta-analysis is the statistical analysis of an entire empirical literature. It seeks to summarize, evaluate and analyse what we know about a given empirical question, phenomenon, or effect. Meta-regression analysis (MRA) is meta-econometrics, uses the very tools that produce economics research, and provides a rigorous, objective alternative to conventional narrative reviews in economics. MRA often reveals surprising truths about economics. To illustrate these methods, I discuss meta-analyses of the employment effect of the minimum wage, efficiency wages, the natural rate hypothesis and unemployment hysteresis, the last two of which provide a rigorous, empirical falsification of the natural rate hypothesis.

The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Firm and Country Competitiveness: A Meta-analysis of the Porter Hypothesis

“…Publication bias -the preference for statistically significant results -is a pervasive issue in the social sciences(Stanley 2005;Stanley 2013). Indeed, given the potential for research surrounding the impact of environmental policy on competitiveness to significantly impact public policy discourse, it is important to examine the presence (or absence) of publication bias in studies empirically investigating the Porter Hypothesis.Figure 2(full sample) andFigure 3(preferred specifications only) consider the presence of potential publication bias via a "funnel plot" for all computable partial correlations and corresponding standard errors.…”

Skating on Thin Evidence: Implications for Public Policy

“…151-2). For example, logically linked meta-analyses have been used to appraise the natural rate hypothesis and found it wanting (Stanley, 2004;Stanley, 2005;Stanley, 2013).…”

The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Firm and Country Competitiveness: A Meta-Analysis of the Porter Hypothesis

“…Interestingly, the studies that contribute the most weight to the meta-analysis are clustered around an effect size of zero. Publication bias -the preference for statistically significant results -is a pervasive issue in the social sciences (Stanley 2005;Stanley 2013). Indeed, given the potential for research surrounding the impact of environmental policy on competitiveness to significantly impact public policy discourse, it is important to examine the presence (or absence) of publication bias in studies empirically investigating the Porter Hypothesis.…”