Replications in agricultural economics

Abstract

Replicability is a cornerstone of all scientific disciplines. While agricultural economists often provide recommendations to stakeholders that inform, among others policymaking, we currently lack replication papers published in leading agricultural economics journals. This increases the risk that published results are not replicable, which potentially can lead to inefficient resource allocation. In this article, we provide a framework for replications in agricultural economics and discuss challenges and opportunities with the objective to foster a replication culture. We provide pathways on how to untap this potential and provide guidance for enabling a stronger emphasis on replications in the field of agricultural economics. We present the first special issue on replications in agricultural economics, which consists of 11 articles that replicate various empirical analyses presented in published articles and advance the analyses that were used in the original work to provide further insights.

The future of research on sustainable food systems: Building an early‐career network of agricultural economists in Europe

“…Furthermore, there is a constant stream of new tools and software packages to implement new econometric methods, improve transparent collaboration, pre-register experiments, and registered reports (Finger et al, 2023).…”

Improving Agricultural Policy Decisions through Replications

“…Building on this, Finger et al . (2023) suggest a classification of replication studies focusing on the objective of the study and being particularly suitable for agricultural economics: Replication studies for assessing repeatability : these repeat the empirical analysis of a published study and test whether the same or very similar results are obtained. For instance, an econometric study based on data from the European Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) is repeatable if another researcher with access to the same data applies the same method as the original study and obtains the same results.…”

“…A single replication study can satisfy one, two, or all three categories of replication studies described above (Finger et al ., 2023).…”

“…Finger et al . (2023) presented the first special issue on replications in agricultural economics (published in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy ), consisting of 11 articles that replicate empirical analyses and advance the analyses that were used in the original work to expand policy‐relevant insights. It provides various examples for all three categories of replication studies in policy‐relevant contexts.…”

“…To address this issue, Finger et al . (2023) provide the first overview article on replications in agricultural economics and develop pathways to enable a stronger emphasis on replications in agricultural economics research. In this Point de Vue , we highlight the relevance of replication studies to improve agricultural policy decision‐making.…”