Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/286334 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IES Working Paper No. 5/2023
Publisher: 
Charles University in Prague, Institute of Economic Studies (IES), Prague
Abstract: 
Meta-analysis upweights studies reporting lower standard errors and hence more precision. But in empirical practice, notably in observational research, precision is not given to the researcher. Precision must be estimated, and thus can be p-hacked to achieve statistical significance. Simulations show that a modest dose of spurious precision creates a formidable problem for inverse-variance weighting and bias-correction methods based on the funnel plot. Selection models fail to solve the problem, and the simple mean can beat sophisticated estimators. Cures to publication bias may become worse than the disease. We introduce an approach that surmounts spuriousness: the Meta-Analysis Instrumental Variable Estimator (MAIVE), which employs inverse sample size as an instrument for reported variance.
Subjects: 
Publication bias
p-hacking
selection models
meta-regression
funnel plot
inverse-variance weighting
JEL: 
C15
C26
C83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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